Metroid Renegade
by CaptainRaspberry
Summary: After the BSL incident, Samus returns to Tallon IV to find a renegade group of Pirates. But when she turns her back on the Federation and joins the Space Pirates, all hell breaks loose... Finally complete.
1. Prologue: Federation Mission Outline

Prologue  
  
***TOP SECRET FEDERATION TRANSMISSION*** Please input code: ****** ... ... ... Access Granted To: Special Contract Agent Samus Aran From: Galactic Federation HQ RE: New Mission  
  
Greetings Samus.  
  
First of all, we would like to request that you not make public what you found on Biologic's space station. It was unfortunate and unforeseen that you discovered the Metroid breeding program, but I'm sure that we can put that behind us for now.  
  
Now, concerning your new mission, you shouldn't have any trouble at all with this one. There has been a recent outbreak of pirate activity throughout the quadrant. We doubt the ability of the Pirates to organize such an attack on their own after the multiple raids on Zebes, thanks to you, so we have reason to believe that this is no major Pirate offensive. Intelligence indicates that it is a renegade band of Pirates, but their true objectives are unclear. However, considering their targets, it could well be that they are trying to get a hold of genetic experimentation information, some of it regarding the Metroid breeding program. We can only assume that they are trying to re-create the Metroids for their own purposes once more.  
  
Now comes the unpleasant part. We have traced the activities back to a specific planet: Tallon IV. This behavior is reckless of the pirates, but we assure you that it is true. We have fourteen reconnaissance reports regarding this.  
  
You're required for this mission due to your experience on this planet in the past. You know the terrain better than any of us, and you are the best equipped for handling this mission. Alone, you can easily penetrate their base and destroy whatever operations they have been conducting.  
  
Try not to mess things up as bad as you did back in orbit around SR388.  
  
Good luck, Samus.  
  
Sincerely,  
  
The Galactic Federation Council, Military Unit 


	2. Chapter 1: Tallon's Grip

Chapter 1: Tallon's Grip

The sleek, silver ship cut through the cosmos like a hot knife through butter. Its motions were smooth and calculated, and its design like it was built by the angels. It was compact, very small compared to most space-faring vessels and a revolutionary model too. Two rear prongs, situated at the lower left and right of the ship's rear, glowed blue and propelled the ship through space. It was a very smooth and comfy ride, and Samus Aran was enjoying every minute of it.

At least, she would have if she wasn't grinding her teeth over the mission outline the Federation had just sent her. The nerve of those people! She had risked life and limb to end the threat of the X back in orbit around SR388, and they had nearly arrested her, all because she happened across the Metroid breeding program. Well, she had also managed to destroy the breeding program, the space station it was on, and the planet beneath it, but she was justified in those actions. Metroids were essentially parasites, but with a very dangerous twist: they could suck your very essence of being out of you and use it as their food. Physically, the average Metroid wasn't all that fear inspiring: its body, which was slightly bigger than a human head, was mostly composed of an oblong, green translucent structure that protected a group of large internal nuclei that stored the energy they siphoned from their victims. From the bottom of this jelly blob hung two sets of fangs. The two outer ones were the largest, used for latching onto their prey. Two inner ones, half the size of the others, would suck the energy out. They had once been considered the most dangerous being in the known universe, and their only known weakness was to cold. When Samus first fought the Metroids on Planet Zebes, the only way she could defeat them was by freezing them with an Ice Beam, then bombarding them with five missiles. It hadn't been the easiest thing she had ever done, and her report afterwards guaranteed the Metroids a place in the ranks of the toughest creatures around.

In fact, through a strange series of events, Samus was now part Metroid. Planet SR388 was the home planet of the Metroids, and a year or so after her genocide of all the Metroids on the surface (with the exception of the hatchling Metroid she took back to the Galactic Federation), she was asked by the Federation to accompany a team of scientists to the planet's surface. Their objective was to observe how the ecosystem was building itself back up after the removal of the dominant link in the food chain. There, she had been attacked by a strange gelatinous creature that would later come to be known as X parasites. It infected her nervous system, though she wasn't aware of it at the time, and a few hours later caused a wide-bodied shutdown. She was quickly brought back to Federation HQ, and given emergency medical treatment. Despite the best efforts of their best doctors, Samus was given a 0.873 chance of survival. Then, a bold scientist suggested a cure. By using a cell culture of preserved DNA from the last Metroid, they whipped up a vaccine for the X infection. It worked, and it completely destroyed all the X parasites within her. Of course, due to the significant amount of Chozo blood that had been transfused into her systems many years earlier, the Metroid DNA unexpectedly bonded with Samus's own DNA. Another unexpected result was her ability to absorb any free-floating X parasites around her. The greatest scientific minds in the galaxy were still scratching their heads over that one.

Her thoughts softened after thinking about their reactions to the sudden end of the breeding program. She could understand it. The scientists had learned a great deal about the Metroid larva before Ridley had kidnapped it, and among the data gathered was the potential for the Metroid's energy siphoning abilities to be used for the greater good. Samus shuddered at the memory. When a Metroid latched onto your head and began sucking your life energy from your body through a complex series of veins and conductors, it wasn't fun. Still, the worse thing was that they had not only cloned and bred Metroids, but also had begun _evolving_ them. On SR388, when she had begun the Metroid genocide under the Galactic Federation's orders, she had first encountered evolved Metroids. After molting, they would evolve into different forms. First Alpha form, followed by Gamma, then Zeta, and after that, the massive and mighty Omega Metroid. The scientists had been taking an insane risk: they had only gone up to Gamma, but if they had gone too much further, then they might have a Queen on their hands.

They had been fools, but over time, Samus knew she could find it in her heart to forgive them. As long as they were careful, she didn't doubt their ability to tame the Metroids once and for all.

She ran her slender and elegant fingers through her blonde hair, stopping when she reached her high-drawn pony tail, as she re-read the overview. She cringed at the sight of Tallon IV.

Before she had traveled to SR388, she had followed one of three Space Pirate frigates to the planet. After finding Meta Ridley, she quickly tracked him back down to the surface. From then on, it was a race to push back the "Great Poison" and finish the Pirate's operations on the planet. Of course, that wasn't half the trouble after she found out about Metroid Prime: it was a giant, spider-like evolution of a Metroid overexposed to Phazon. Phazon was a strange substance that came in red and blue form, and could drive the unprotected completely mad.

Of course, the last time she saw Tallon, she had recently driven a large temple into the crater where Metroid Prime had been living.

Now it would be a tragedy, to return and see what damage the planet had taken since then. It was still declining, and within 23 years expected to become a wasteland planet. On top of all this, the Pirates seem to have renewed interest in the planet. But what they could want was beyond Samus...

_Bah_, she thought sourly. _I'm being paid to kill them, not think about it._ Still, she was intrigued. Surely their market for Phazon had dried up, and with their precious Mother Brain dead for good, and no new "Command" structure, what militaristic purpose could it serve?

The computer beeped a warning, and Samus looked out the blue-tinted view screen. She could see Tallon IV looming in front of her. There was a large black spot that covered what Samus recognized as the area of the temple, and where she had landed her gunship last time. The computer quickly relayed the information that it was a highly radioactive area, and that landing near it would be suicide. Her fair face paled slightly seeing it, realizing that it was her fault. But soon that empty feeling was replaced by steely determination.

"Original landing spot has been compromised," she spoke to no one but the auto-recorder. "I'm going to attempt to land in the Phendrana Drifts region."

The sleek ship re-angled itself as Samus took the controls. Despite the trouble she had gotten into for destroying the Metroid breeding program, she still had a few friends left on the council. While they had revoked her ship ADAM, they had given her this new vessel. It was not meant for combat, but it was quick and could deliver her to her missions as quickly as she wanted.

Which was all the better for her.

The ship gently nosed in through the atmosphere, a fireball cutting a thin line through the super-cooled clouds of Phendrana. When the ship finally pierced the clouds, she found herself in the middle of a blizzard. Thick white blobs rocketed past the windshield; bombarding her craft and making it rock slightly. It was a complete white-out: no visuals.

_No problem_, she thought coolly. She cycled through a visor list for the craft itself, and found the one she was looking for: Night Vision. Suddenly, the white void turned into detailed, albeit green, portraits of the landscape. She didn't bother doing a thorough scan, just enough to pinpoint her landing spot. She smiled at her luck: she was right above it.

Engaging the landing sequence, Samus touched down onto the soft snow. As she powered down the ship's flight systems, the Night Vision disappeared, and the cascading snow replaced it. She pulled herself from her pilot's chair, and took a couple of steps back, and she straightened out her blue form-fitting jumpsuit. She was a quite attractive young woman, and anyone just passing her by on the street would have thought she was just another babe, albeit more beautiful than anyone they knew. But anyone who knew her from work would avoid her at all costs: after all, she was the most feared bounty hunter in the galaxy.

She hit a button and the floor beneath her rose up and into a small hatchway. On the outside, a hatch opened up, and a figure emerged. But this wasn't the figure that had just exited the ship. This figure was covered head to toe in an organic looking battle suit, a pleasant orange substance covering most of the body. Only the abs, crotch, bottom, kneecaps, thighs, and calf muscles were exempt from it, covered in a more mechanical yellow surface, criss-crossed with lines forming intricate patterns. There were smaller spots of the yellow patterns on her left arm, namely in the bicep, triceps, and forearm flexor, and they were accompanied by a row of three blue spikes that ran up the forearm, growing progressively longer as they made it to the elbow. The arm ended in a blue gloved hand. The same might be true for the other arm, but it was replaced by a large, sleek beam gun with an almost bulbous shape to it. Instead of a head, there was a red helmet with a blue visor, with a single peak rising up in the top center. A mandible-like decoration adorned each side of the helmet, giving her a very predator look. Directly below the helmet was a red collar-like device that ducked low on the suit's breast, and two gray tubes, one on each side of the base of the neck, ran down to a small energy tank strapped to the back.

Inside the suit, Samus Aran smiled. This was her pride and joy, the Fusion Suit. It was named after the process that formed it, not what powered it. It was powered by a reserve of energy that would last forever providing the suit wasn't damaged. If it was, the suit would take a portion of that energy to repair it, and too much damage would force Samus to search for some energy to refill the reserves. Of course, if the energy reached zero... she shuddered, stopping herself from continuing that thought. There had been a few occasions where the suit had lost so much energy that the warning klaxons inside her helmet would scream the near-death alarm, and each time the amount of pain had been unbearable. The bounty hunter, though possibly the toughest around, couldn't and wouldn't even try to comprehend a situation that would make that come true.

Pushing the horrors of the job to the back of her mind, she attempted to survey her surroundings. It was futile; with the entire area in a complete white-out, she could barely see her hand and gun in front of her face. A slight chill ran through her slender yet iron-like form, but heaters within the suit soon stabilized the temperature, even alerting her to a slight break in the seal around her neck where her helmet met the collar. She readjusted it immediately, but she realized that she would need a computer to completely take care of the problem. She remembered when this cold would have caused even greater problems, namely back when her suit was still in its first stages of development. It came to light that there was an unexpected side effect when Samus learned, from first hand experience, that she had inherited the Metroid's vulnerability to cold. While on the Biologic space station, the Federation had been unwilling to send her the Ice Beam upgrade, saying that it might be too risky for her to absorb, and she had to settle with Ice Missiles instead. As she progressed through the station, killing the X that had infested it, she had received other upgrades that resulted in the nullification of her cold vulnerability while in the suit (and even later, she proved the Federation wrong when she absorbed the Ice Beam upgrade on her own and it didn't affect her at all).

Samus bent low, springing into the air in an impressive flip maneuver. It always worked on the intimidation angle, but without any foes around, it was just fun. However, she wasn't expecting the height of the snow as she landed. After picking herself out of a large snow drift, she realized that it was at least knee-high. Normally there was just enough evaporation to keep the snow ankle high at best, but Samus could only guess why it was so deep now. One of many theories was that the destruction of Metroid Prime and the stemming of the tide of Phazon had thrown the atmosphere into a fit of unpredictability.

As she trudged through the snow, the bounty hunter kept a cautious eye out. By now, she had expected the local creatures to jump out of the snow and attack her, something like a Sheegoth. Sheegoths were very large creatures with ice crystals that formed protective shells on their backs, protecting the most vulnerable parts of their bodies from enemies. Fully grown Sheegoths could collect energy in their ice crystals and focus it into a high-energy breath weapon. But this so-far uneventful walk had left her pondering the environmental ramifications of her last visit and had made her, admittedly, bored.

After what seemed like hours of wandering through the white void, Samus stumbled into a cave. She looked around. _Odd_, she thought, _I don't remember this one..._ The cave was lined with machinery, though pieces of the cliff that was cut into still peeked out through gaps between each device. The cave itself extended far into the cliff wall, but she could still make out the end of it. One large power conduit ran straight through the floor all the way to the end, when it connected to a device at the very end. It hummed softly, and radiated a faint glow all around it. Against her better judgment, the hunter followed it.

At the end, she found a lone power generator, surrounded by what looked like the cables that led to whatever it was powering. There was only one small monitor that gave readouts of how much power was being used: 66 and rising. It was obvious someone was powering something up.

There was a loud _clang_ behind her, and as she turned around, she got a face-full of red laser fire. At least, she would have, if it weren't for the protective helmet around her head. The bounty hunter took the hit, and then hit the ground rolling. She recovered, and brought her gun up to take aim at her targets. Just as she suspected: Space Pirates.

They were not the kind she had met back on Zebes, but rather the kind she had encountered right here on Tallon IV on her first visit. There were eight of them, each aiming their Galvanic Accelerator Cannons, mounted on their right arms, directly at her. The other arm hung by their sides, but tense. This arm wore a forearm-mounted scythe, yellow in color and looking very menacing. Each had beady little red eyes that glowed at her. Their heads were hunched into their shoulders, making them seem glowering and suspicious. Samus knew them to be quite tall when relaxed, but they were hunched over in their battle positions. At the end of their arms were small claws, nothing too threatening, but enough to be able to clutch something.

Another round of laser fire erupted from their cannons, the shots hurtling towards Samus. However, she had expected this, and nimbly leapt to the side. She opened fire with her arm cannon, using only the Power Beam. Five shots rocketed across the space between them and struck one Pirate. He screeched in pain and fell back, but quickly got back up and fired on her once more.

"Damn," she cursed inside her helmet. She had always meant to see if her visor settings could be restored in her new suit, since her last one was destroyed, but she had never gotten around to it. Now she couldn't aim for their weaknesses. She could remember a time when five shots would bring a Pirate down for good...

Her thoughts were interrupted when a shot scorched past her shoulder. She winced and brought her gun arm back up, and fired more shots into the group. However, they shrugged off the blasts, their armor withstanding the entire time.

Arming her missiles, Samus Aran jumped from her sitting position and landed only a few feet from her targets. She squeezed the launch trigger tightly, and let loose a volley of missiles into the Pirates. Most were able to dodge out of range, jumping behind her, but two were unlucky enough to be caught in the full force of them. The first was in front, his entire upper body exploding, bits and pieces of him clinging to the walls and snow. What remained of his body dropped to the ground, obviously dead. The second suffered serious wounds, getting thrown up against the wall by the blast and falling face-first into the snow. Blackish-blue blood oozed from various wounds and stained the snow.

Samus soon realized a fatal mistake in her plan: the remaining seven Pirates had used the distraction to surround her. She closed her eyes, waiting for the execution-style slaughter to come. But it didn't. She opened her eyes, and looked around. The Pirates seemed to be waiting for something. She followed their eyes back to the entrance of the cave, and saw a single figure walking into it, and she froze, physically as well as mentally. She instantly recognized its shape: a Myrnai warrior, better known as a "Zebesian" Space Pirate. These were the superior fighters within the ranks of the Pirates, with large lobster-like claws capable of firing short-range bursts of electricity. Their bodies were lean and proud, their heads separated from the rest of their bodies by a short neck, unlike the ones currently aiming their guns at the bounty hunter. The Myrnai's eyes were emerald green slits, its skin a vivid red. It had talon-like feet, with only two clawed toes however. As it was, Samus could only see its head, feet, and left claw. The rest of its body was covered by an off-white cloak, wrapped tightly around its body. But that wasn't what caused her to stop. It was what adorned the neck of the cloak that caught her eye. Brilliant white feathers, as long as they were beautiful, were strung around the neck of the cloak. They were Chozo feathers, belonging to the same species that had raised Samus since she was a child, and the way they were arranged meant something... Samus could not recall exactly what, but it was important.

The new Pirate spoke quickly in metallic tones, so fast that Samus's translator was unable to keep up. The Space Pirates surrounding her also spoke in that quick dialect, seeming to motion towards Samus. The Myrnai at the cave turned as if to leave, and then muttered something. It was slow enough for the translator to make out:

"Capture it."

Before she could react, she felt five grappling beams wrap around her body, holding her in a tight grip. The remaining two Pirates moved forward, being wary of the still-conscious Aran, and pulled out needles. They each pushed a needle deep into both of her shoulders, the sharp instrument piercing the suit and injecting beneath the skin. Not ten seconds after, she was unconscious.


	3. Chapter 2: Motivation

Chapter 2: Motivation

My mother leaned down to kiss me goodnight. She was a beautiful woman, with slight wrinkles pulling at the corners of her eyes as she smiled. She also had the softest lips. I was wrapped up in my blankets, smiling a warm smile.

"Mommy?" I asked, looking up into her eyes.

"What is it, sweetie?" she replied.

"Will you sing me that lullaby again? You know, the one from last night?"

"I certainly will," she said, smiling again. Then she began singing:

_Have courage, my little baby;_

_Show no signs of fear._

_Whenever you smile your widest_

_I will always be here._

_In the darkest times, my little one;_

_Sing to yourself this song._

_Whenever you sing this, my daughter_

_Forever you will belong._

_Have courage, my little baby;_

_Show no signs of fear._

_Whenever you smile your brightest_

_I will always be here._

I began drifting off into sleep, with her words echoing through my mind. My mother always had the most wonderful singing voice...

Samus's eyes shot open, and found themselves fixed on a bare metal ceiling. For a moment, she relaxed: at least she wasn't dead. Suddenly, she remembered what had happened. She jumped out of the small bed, landing heavily on the floor, a sheet still clinging to her like a baby to its mother.

She looked down at herself, and was relieved to find her Fusion Suit still on. Then she realized she wasn't looking through a visor. She did a quick confirmation of this fact by patting her head and feeling her hair underneath. The pony tail was still present. Her eyes darted around the room, taking it all in. It was a small 11' by 11' room, made up of a darkish metal. The bed she was just on was pushed up against the corner, and a small end table rested at the foot of it. On the table was her helmet. Before picking it up, she examined the rest of the room, and found it to be otherwise empty, save a single terminal. She picked up her helmet and firmly placed it over her head. It began by scanning her suit, noting that her abilities, from her morph ball to her gun arm to her space jump, had all been disabled. It also alerted her to the seal which had, again, popped. After a quick fix, she checked the communications channel to see if she could get a word out to the Federation. Nothing; the signal was jammed. Then she checked her mission clock and groaned: it had been 3 days since she was knocked out.

She shrugged and decided the terminal was the best option right now. She crossed over to it and looked it over. It was the standard Space Pirate terminal, made up of a flat-panel screen and a keyboard. She tapped a key twice, and noticed in mild curiosity when the screen fired up, revealing the face of the Myrnai warrior that had ordered her capture.

"Samus Aran," it spoke, her translator working to tell her what was being said. The voice was unmistakably masculine. He continued: "We are the Radon Pirates, and we are very interested in you, hunter. An escort will arrive momentarily to bring you to me, so we may discuss matters." The image winked out, leaving Samus to ponder the message.

As she came to a decision, the door swished open, and a lone Space Pirate stood in the doorway. "Come with me," it said, and motioned out into the hallway. Samus walked forward, seeming to comply, but as soon as she was less than a foot away, she made her move. Bringing her left arm up, she flicked her wrist and brought the spikes down on the Pirate in one fluid motion. The unsuspecting creature let out a cry of pain and stumbled backwards, allowing Samus room to get out the door. By the time he recovered, Samus was off like a shot down the hallway.

He pulled out a radio. "Samus has escaped," he spoke wearily into it while trying to nurture the wound on his chest with his other arm. Blood was flowing freely; the hunter had cut him deep.

"Don't worry," said the Myrnai on the other end. "We've planned for this."

Samus was smiling to herself, remembering the look on the Pirate's face when she had cut him. The shock, horror, and pain all mixed into one. Her smiled soon disappeared, however, replaced by a determined frown. Without her weapons, she was essentially defenseless. Those spikes had served her well, but it wasn't likely that she could keep taking them by surprise like that. Soon, they would be aware of her escape, and that's when it would really come down to the wire.

As she rounded a corner, she came across a stunned guard. He obviously wasn't expecting her, judging by the fact that his cannon and scythe were propped up against the far wall. Reaching out with her gun arm, she clothes-lined the poor soul while grabbing his scythe with her left arm. She quickly turned another corner and got halfway down the hall when three defense turrets suddenly activated in front of her. They took aim and fired. Samus dodged two, but caught the third in the chest. She grunted as she dived into a nook in the wall.

She peeked her head out and nearly got hit in the head by another blast, and drew herself back instantly. Being more cautious this time, she sized up the situation. The three turrets were firing in unison, and she could hear footsteps and voices down the hall as a squad of Pirates drew closer. Her mind, assisted by the Chozo blood and her natural ingenuity, soon came up with a plan.

Just as the Space Pirates rounded the bend, she rolled out from her cover and threw the scythe as hard as she could while maintaining pinpoint accuracy. The yellow blade sailed through the air and pierced the center turret, deactivating it instantly. Then she began dashing forward, avoiding the turrets' shots and running straight at the Pirates. As she reached them, the turrets reloaded, took aim, and charged up. Just before they fired, she dove beneath the legs of the foremost Pirate, rolling under the rest of them, then jumping up and running around the corner. The turrets opened fire at the spot where Samus had just rolled under, not detecting her departure. Their programming stated that Samus was hiding under whatever she rolled under. The departing bounty hunter heard the Pirates scream as they were cooked alive by their own guns.

Samus tore around another corner and found herself facing down at least 20 Galvanic Accelerator Cannons and scythes. She froze instinctively, not moving an inch. From behind the ranks of the Pirates came the Myrnai Pirate, the only person that Samus could guess to be the leader.

The Pirate cleared its throat, a horrible scratchy sound, and then began to speak. "Samus Aran, you know that you cannot possibly escape these odds. You have 20 of the finest Space Pirates in the galaxy before you, and another squad..." he motioned behind her, and she took a brief look. It was true: another group of 20 or so Pirates had cut her off. "Therefore," he continued, "I would ask that you listen to my proposal before you decide on a course of action.

"That is," he added, "At your choice." The high-pitched whine of the numerous cannons surrounding her filled the air. She quickly assessed the options: 1.) Go out in a futile attack with her blades, possibly eliminating the Myrnai Pirate and a couple of others before being reduced to a pile of cinders; 2.) activate the suit's self-detonation switch and take them all out, plus one Pirate compound; or 3.) actually listen to the Pirate's speech. Her mouth formed into a thin line. It was a draw between two and three, but since the latter didn't require her giving her life...

"I'll listen," she said.

"Wonderful choice, Huntress," the Myrnai said, his voice laced with smugness. Samus's eyes widened at the use of her Chozo nickname. Other than Hatchling, that was one of several names that she was referred to in prophecies. "Allow me to introduce myself: I am Epsillius, leader of the Radon Pirates, and we have quite a tale to tell.

"Let me begin at the beginning. I'm sure you remember your first excursion at Zebes? Of course you do, how can one forget. Anyways, I had been but a lowly foot soldier back then, and had narrowly avoided being food for Mother Brain's Metroids. I had been loyal throughout my service, and I believed in that foolish religion that claims the younger you are when you die in battle, the more revered you are in the afterlife. I was quite fond of Mother Brain, until the day I was chosen to report your progress. I had always thought of the giant brain in a jar to be a caring being, but when I brought her the news I had a radical change of mind. 'You fool!' she yelled at me, and using one of her automated cannons, fired at me. I avoided the blast mostly, but at the cost of my precious arm." From inside the folds of his cloak he withdrew his right claw, and Samus was taken aback. Instead of a normal claw, his was a shiny metal replacement. It was smooth and well crafted, though a little rough around the edges. There was hardened blood around where the forearm met the upper arm, obviously where it was forcefully implanted. Samus's scan visor, the only visor other than the standard combat one that had survived her metamorphosis relayed the information on it to her:

** This claw is made of a tough titanium-like substance. While the crafting of this masterful weapon was delicate, the surgery required to fit it in place was not, due to the obvious signs of infection where the apparatus is implanted into the rest of the arm. It is capable of firing a Charged Galvanic Accelerator Cannon, as well as Missiles and Super Missiles. The design hints toward Pirates attempting to reverse-engineer your complicated missile systems. **

"From that moment on, I knew that Mother Brain was not the glorious leader to follow. I escaped the exploding base shortly after you defeated the bitch in combat, and I never returned to service. My life had been torn out from under me, and I had nowhere else to go.

"However, rather than moping about, I looked around for help, and I got more than I bargained for. Shortly after escaping from Zebes, I got in touch with a small group of other Pirates that had similar dealings with Mother Brain, and had arrived at similar conclusions. I quickly joined them, and became one of their most loyal followers. They gave me this arm," he opened and closed the menacing claw for effect, "and their blessings. It seemed I was on the right track to freedom.

"All of us dreamed of revenge, but we were too small in number. Our ranks did not grow too quickly, and some of us were killed on the supply raids we made, whether from the Galactic Federation or from our own. That's when we learned of Mother Brain's revival back on Zebes, and your previous exploits on Tallon IV. Myself and two others journeyed to the planet for any supplies left behind in our brethren's hasty retreat, and shortly after landing were attacked by savage creatures in the Chozo Ruins. I believe you would call them 'Chozo Ghosts'? Well, only I lived through the encounter, and I searched for some supplies so that I didn't have to go back empty handed. That's when I found these men." He motioned around him to all the Pirates that currently had Samus targeted. "A force of roughly 570 strong, they too had been abandoned, just like the rest of my friends. They had hid from your wrath, and had been overlooked by the retreating ships. Their Command Structure had since been withdrawn by the new Mother Brain, and they lacked a leader. They recognized me as a potential leader, and made me so. We quickly reestablished this base, repairing it from the destruction that you had caused and bringing everything back online.

"Of course, we needed supplies, and when passing ships came by we robbed them, taking it all and leaving nothing behind. Eventually, however, the Federation must have caught on, and that has become obvious now that you're here..."

"Hold on," Samus broke into the inane chatter. "There's a crashed Pirate frigate not too far away. What's preventing you from raiding that? Also, I was hired by the Federation because apparently you stole some data regarding the Metroid breeding program." The frigate was the same one that Samus had originally followed to the planet, but during her stay onboard managed to crash the ship into the planet's surface. She had a nasty habit of doing that.

Epsillius stopped for a moment, a pang of regret crossing his face. "We originally tried to raid that, but unfortunately, we ran into something quite unexpected: the Torizo." Samus's body stiffened at the name. The Torizo were almost exactly like the Chozo, except for one small difference, namely their lust for blood. Long ago, the two had been one race, the Chorizo, a conquering race that had no equal, no challenge. After a while, however, a rather large number of the Chorizo wanted to stop fighting, and settle down to peace. This faction was self-dubbed the Chozo. The opposing group, smaller in number, wanted to continue their war-like ways, and challenged the peace-loving Chozo. Calling themselves the Torizo, they fought madly over the fate of their race. In the end, the Chozo won, putting most of their foes in suspended animation and forcing the rest off of the planet. Samus's best guess was that the remaining Torizo followed the Chozo to Tallon IV, but were placed in suspended animation like their brothers. The only way to rouse them from their sleep was by a disturbance, a crisis of some sort. Perhaps, like their kind on Zebes, the Torizo had been sealed off underground somewhere. They were awakened when the meteor crashed into the planet, but could not escape their chamber. But when the Space Pirate frigate crashed, it opened up a fissure under the wreck. It took the Torizo until after the main Pirate forces had left to break through the metal, but they must have gotten through.

"Now to why we want you here," Epsillius continued. "You see, you're the best bet for getting rid of the Torizo. We have tried, but many of us have fallen before their wretched power armor. We wish for you to defeat them."

Samus shrugged, and all the Pirates around her (save Epsillius) twitched. "That's nice and all, but what's in it for me?"

Epsillius looked lost in thought for a moment before returning to reality. "How much is the Federation paying to destroy us?"

"50 billion credits." She replied.

"We'll triple that," the Myrnai warrior said.

Samus was suddenly in a war within her own mind. Part of her said "Don't do it! These are pirates! They cannot be trusted!" Another piece of her conscience said "These people need your help. Can't you live and let live? These are not the same Pirates that destroyed your home..." Finally, another voice spoke up. "If they do something stupid, you can no doubt stop them, and in accepting this offer, you can keep your eye on them. And 150 billion credits is a nice bonus."

She sighed and looked the Myrnai Pirate straight in the eye. "I'll do it."

"Excellent," Epsillius said, and waved his hand. All the Pirates lowered their weapons, quite a few of them looking perplexed. Samus could tell that they had not been informed of this part of the plan, where she lives and joins them. However, she couldn't help but feel that there was something much more sinister behind all of this...

"Come with me," the red Pirate interrupted her train of thought. "We'd better get you acquainted with your home for the next few weeks." The other Pirates made room for the two of them as they continued down the hallway.

Galactic Federation Chairman Frederick Malkovich drummed his fingers on his desk impatiently. He was a middle-aged man, dressed in the same garments of all Federation chairmen: a simple red robe with gold trim, a beer gut hanging out. He had black hair, but around the edges it was lightening to silver. He had a growing bald spot on the crown of his head, and his eyes were starting to droop with old age. His head rested on one hand as his eyes wearily searched around the room, finally resting on a picture on his desk. He picked it up tenderly, looking longingly at the man in it.

The man was Adam, Frederick's younger brother. He had been a great soldier, and his crowning achievement was being the commanding officer of the great Samus Aran when she was working for the Federation. Unfortunately, a few years ago he was killed in the line of duty when a Space Pirate team infiltrated the base on SF998 and destroyed it. Fortunately, the Federation had a habit of preserving the brains of their top officers in computers, and Adam was put into Samus's ship for the BSL incident. But after her acts of insubordination, they took him away and put him to better use elsewhere.

That was how Samus had avoided being arrested for the destruction of the Metroid breeding program, the BSL space station, and the planet SR388, and gotten rehired by the Federation. As his brother had wished, Frederick threw his weight around the Galactic Council and managed to accomplish all that, plus get the bounty hunter a new ship.

But it had been four days since she left, and no word whatsoever. He was beginning to worry.

Suddenly, the door to his office swished open, and an intern burst into the room. He looked quite distressed, and sounded that way too. "Sir, as of last night, at 22:09 hours, we lost contact with the bounty hunter Samus Aran," he said quickly, as if it were some kind of contest. "Telemetrical data was suddenly cut off after she appeared to have fallen asleep. I can get the technical readouts if you want--"

"No need," Frederick said, getting up out of his chair. "We don't have time. If those Pirates are indeed creating Metroids, we can't spare precious seconds on trying to reestablish contact." He hated the words he was saying, but they were true: they had to abandon Samus Aran, no matter her condition. "Get Dash Stardrex up here."

"Yes sir," the intern said, and bolted out of the room. Frederick followed, and then paused, looking back at the picture on his desk.

"I'm sorry, Adam," he said to his late brother. "But I have to do this: its war." He turned around and left the room in darkness.


	4. Chapter 3: Dash

Chapter 3: Dash

He was a powerful man who walked into the Galaxy Federal Police Headquarters one day on the planet M510. He wore a sleeveless, midnight-blue jumpsuit with silver-colored trim, with a pair of heavy-duty gloves and a pawldron on his left shoulder, complete with an old faded GF symbol. He had on heavy boots that looked like they could weight a ton. He wore two belts: one ran from his right shoulder down to his hip, and the other was where a belt should normally be. Both were adorned with a multitude of two-per-column buttons, about the size of a dime. His face was rounded out, but his features were far from soft. His eyes looked like they had seen many a battle and his cheeks were decorated with deep scars. The head of the newcomer was topped off by close-cropped red hair.

Of course, the security guards only took slight notice of his clothes, and the way he walked in like he owned the place. They were paying a great amount of attention to the gun on the new man's hip holster. The two guards knew the model by heart: a Model X900, better known by its market pet-name, the Smith-Hitachi Godzilla Blaster. It was a favorite choice for a bounty hunter: at full power, it could blow a hole the size of a human through the hull of a battle cruiser. And this guy looked like the sort who would use it with little provocation.

Jonathan, one of the two security guards on duty, watched through the plexiglass window as the stranger just casually walked past the security checkpoint, obviously not caring for policies or the keeping of the peace. He sighed. _Its not gonna be an easy day, is it?_ He made sure his own pistol was in place before walking out into the hall.

"Hold it," he called out, and the man ahead of him halted in mid-stride. He turned slowly and found himself looking at a puny security guard. Well, not puny, but nothing spectacular either. He was young, probably about 28 or so, with light blonde hair and a soft face. He was in a standard rent-a-cop uniform, with a shiny identification badge on his left breast. The youngster held out his hand expectantly, like he wanted a piece of candy.

"I'm going to have to ask you to remove your gun, sir," the kid said, "Before I have to confiscate it forcibly."

The red-headed man just stared at him in disbelief, and then a smirk came across his face. "Are you gonna take it from me?"

Just that one line caused a great amount of chaos in the young Jonathan's mind. The steely tone that this person had just taken scared him out of his wits, but he couldn't move. Was it fear? His family had been a fearless line of security guards, but he was glued to his spot at a mere six words from this guy. He shook his head as if to clear a spell, and started advancing slowly on the red-haired individual. His eyes were focused on the blaster and the hand that hovered directly above it. It was just like an old western, but he felt like he had forgotten something...

"Hey kid," the steely tone of the stranger tore through his consciousness once more, "You're looking at the wrong gun." Jonathan turned his head in disbelief to see for himself this other gun, but his left hand was empty. He then looked up at the man in puzzlement, but it was right about then that one of the buttons on his belt, located just over his sternum, and attached itself to the security guard's forehead.

"Do you have any idea what that is?" The red-headed man asked him. "That's a micro-bomb, the top notch of micro-weapons technology. It's small, makes about the same sound as a compressed and silenced blaster, and will blow your head clean off, like a Space Dragon's breath." The bomb itself was silver, with a red flashing light right in the center, indicating that it was armed. The guard stood upright and froze immediately, looking quite stiff.

The man got real close, right up next to his ear, and whispered: "And that ain't the most powerful bomb I got on me, son." He chuckled to himself as he turned to leave, and walked straight into a large, rotund man in a uniform. He stepped back, slightly disoriented, and found himself staring into the eyes of a supervisor. Stealing a look at the security guard rigidly standing there, and then back to the red-haired man, he cleared his throat and spoke.

"Are you Dash Stardrex?" He asked gruffly.

"Yes," replied the red-haired man.

"Come with me." Dash complied, not wanting to make too much more of a scene, though it had been entertaining. The two of them left Jonathan to stand there, fearing for his life, and his partner calling for medics and a bomb squad.

Dash and the supervisor made their way to the elevator, neither speaking nor wishing for conversation. The supervisor wanted to get back to his desk, and Dash wanted to find out why he was summoned here so he could get some more money and get back to his apartment.

Once on the elevator, the supervisor took out a key and opened a special panel that revealed a whole new row of buttons that led to various offices. He pressed one, with the initials "F.M." written on it, and the doors slid closed. Dash could barely feel the change in gravity as the elevator slid up its shaft before eventually stopping at wherever the supervisor wanted it to. The door slid open and Dash saw a very plush office, with rows of books filled on large shelves, and a large desk in the back of the room. The room itself was very large and impressive, decorated in a standard diplomatic color: dark, royal blue. The rug and walls were colored this way, and made was supposed to make Dash feel uncomfortable in the face of authority. But Dash had been in worse places. Much worse. He merely made his way to the cushy chair sitting opposite the desk and made himself comfortable while waiting for the one responsible to make his appearance.

He didn't have long to wait, as the man of the hour strode through the elevator doors not two minutes later. Dash took a look to see who it was, but made no effort to stand. He recognized the man: Frederick Malkovich, famed not by his own actions but by those of his brother.

As Frederick walked by, he snorted at the comfortable disposition of his guest. "If you knew what was going on," he said to the relaxing Dash, "You wouldn't be so comfortable."

"From what you told me," the red-haired bounty hunter replied, "Samus is off the charts, making me the top bounty hunter out there. I'm actually quite pleased." It was true: Dash was the best bounty hunter in the galaxy, second only to Samus, but he was convinced it was only because she had that special suit. If she met him out of her suit, he was sure he would win a fight. Of course, Dash was also known for his cockiness, as one could expect of him.

"You might want to take that back," the older gentleman said, "Because I'm sure she wouldn't be glad to hear that." He sighed heavily. "Oh well, better bring you up to speed on our current situation."

He cleared his throat and began. "Roughly ten days ago, we lost contact with one of our transportation frigates. After an investigation, we found it was gutted and completely cleaned out. Surveillance vids from onboard cameras revealed that Tallonian Space Pirates were the cause. They seized everything, grabbing the cargo of medicine, rations, and, oddly enough, heavy-duty containment capsules. They also downloaded a hell of a lot of data from the ships computers, but never bothered to wipe it afterwards. They were obviously in haste. Anyways, afterwards we tracked them to Tallon IV, their old Phazon-mining grounds. An insider informed us that they were not connected at all to the main Pirate forces. We tried to organize an assault, but we couldn't locate their base anywhere on the planet. And we hope that the environment might make a recovery, so we didn't want to nuke the planet either. So, four days ago, we sent Samus Aran to investigate, but we lost contact with her a couple of days ago."

Dash's hand shot up in a mocking manner. "What about the data?" He asked.

Frederick sighed. "I trust that Samus has revealed the specifics of her recent mission above SR388?"

Dash once again made fun of them, pretending to be shocked. "Of course! Guild rules, you know."

"What did she tell you?"

"Well, for starters, that it started out as a simple support job for the B.S.L. guys, but then it turned ugly. The X, as you call them, overran their research station, and Samus was sent to investigate. She soon found herself deep in the muck your scientists created, cleaning up their accidents, and she made it clear she was none too happy about that. However, she destroyed the station, the X, and most of the planet too."

Both of them breathed an inner sigh of relief. Frederick was glad that Samus hadn't revealed the Metroid breeding program, and Dash was glad that he had held his tongue and not revealed that Samus talked about the Metroid breeding program.

"Well, the data they stole was important. It was ferrying in the latest results of testing regarding the X as a possible weapon. It had the data on the X in general, the forms they had adopted over time, and also the SA-X."

This time, Dash really was surprised. "You mean, after all that, you _still_ want to use the X?"

"Why not?" the man shrugged, "With the proper tools, we feel we can adequately control them. After all, we almost controlled the Metroid. If those blasted Space Pirates hadn't screwed it up..."

"But they still did," Dash said, a pique of annoyance crossing his tone. "And you think you can successfully control a life form that could destroy anything? Where's the logic in that?"

"Look," Frederick said, shaking his head, "This is all beside the point. The Pirates are somewhere on Tallon IV, but we don't know where. Samus might have found it, so that's why we're sending you after her ship. There's a tracking device, in case she failed or betrayed us..."

Dash was unperturbed. His mind was occupied with one thought: the number one bounty hunter in the galaxy was himself. Now hid dreams of grandeur could finally come to reality. He cleared his throat rather noisily, bringing the Chairman out of his ramble. He began to speak in a high and mighty tone:

"This is all very tragic, I'm sure, but we need to get down to business. First of all, I want the best toys available. I can't go chasing down Pirates armed to the teeth with data on possibly the greatest enemy the galaxy has seen and with just my SHGB, and a few tricks up my sleeve. Plus, my ship isn't exactly built for long-distance hauls, so I'll need a shiny new one, something like the ship Samus left with."

"We can arrange for all the equipment you need," Frederick said in a low tone, frustration pulling at his voice. "We can get you high-powered rifles, a brand new ship, a battle-suit..."

"Whoa, wait a minute," Dash said, "I don't wear any sort of battle suit. Just doesn't fit me, you know? They're far too bulky. Nothing short of Samus's suit could sell me. Second, when it comes to pay..."

"Standard, the same thing Samus had."

"I won't settle for that, Malkovich. Obviously, the (formerly) best bounty hunter in the galaxy couldn't handle such a high-class threat with a measly 50 billion in her pocket. I want ten times as much, at least, plus expenses that I require for my trip. I want to be reimbursed for every little credit I spend."

The Chairman was now looking genuinely flustered. "Now now," the bounty hunter continued. "I didn't come all this way, dragged from my comfy apartment back on M115, just to be given poor pay and a meal ticket for a crappy ass last meal. If I'm going up against these guys, I am the best there is, I need the best there is, and I need to be treated like I'm the best there is."

Frederick's color continued to change hues, going from bright red to almost purple. A vein on his forehead throbbed irritably. Finally, he took a couple of deep breaths, counted to ten in his head, and exhaled. The normal color for a human returned, and the Chairman stared the imposing bounty hunter straight in the eye.

"Fine then," he said, "Take what you 'need.'"

"You made the right decision to call me," Dash said as he got up and walked towards the elevator. "It's a decision that you will not regret." The elevator door slid shut, and Dash was on his way back down to the main lobby. Suddenly, Frederick found himself hoping that Samus's replacement suffered the same fate as the predecessor.

Down in the lobby, Dash walked through the halls and finally found the exit, back onto the street. He saw a large crowd, and found that it was made up of bomb techs, medics, and the security guard. The bomb squad was inspecting the offending explosive latched on to poor Jonathan's forehead, but no one seemed to want to get too close. The bounty hunter walked over, reached past a bomb tech's head, and plucked the miniature device from the man's head, removing a little bit of skin as well. He placed it back in his cross-chest belt and it immediately grew dormant once again, and was indistinguishable from the rest of his buttons. He turned to the quivering Jonathan.

"These things cost money, son," Dash said, trying to sound macho. "The best bounty hunter in the galaxy doesn't become the best by throwing his credits around." With that, he turned and exited the building, leaving a dumbfounded security guard to return to his post, and ponder how extensive today's diary entry would be.


	5. Chapter 4: Radon

Chapter 4: Radon

Samus Aran closely followed the Myrnai Space Pirate, Epsillius, through the winding corridors of the installation. It was all made by the standard Pirate shoddy construction: metal plates were secure but hammered into place haphazardly. She couldn't say the same about their ships, which she knew from experience to be expertly built, but their ground installations seemed to be rather poor in comparison.

Walking behind the Pirate, she finally got a good look at his cloak. She noticed that on the back of the cloak was a Chozo symbol, the one that stood for "Warrior." Inside Samus's mind, another conflict occurred. "How dare he wear the garments of your upbringers! He should be struck down where he stands!" One of her inner voices argued. But there was something else holding that voice back from dominance, something without its own voice but strong enough to overrule everything else. Samus strained her brain trying to recognize it. Was it... compassion? Was she really sympathizing with one of her mortal enemies? It was true that they had something common in their pasts, but they were still so different. Maybe... it really was time to live and let live.

"We'll be coming up to the primary control room soon, Samus," the Pirate finally spoke. "There, you'll be able to see just how far our... ah, operation has gone."

Samus took note of blinking Pirate text on the wall, and scanned it. It read: ** "Command Center" **and indicated the direction with an arrow. She smirked: Pirates were still the same, too straightforward for their own good.

The two continued walking in quiet until Epsillius finally decided to break the silence. "I must admit, Hunter," he said in an amused tone, "That we were quite shocked to learn that the great Destroyer is, in fact, a female." Samus winced at the use of the second nickname. That name had once caused her trouble, as it was used by the Chozo to refer to Metroid Prime. Hearing a Pirate use it to refer to her was a little bit unnerving.

"I have to say I was shocked too," Samus said dryly. "After all, I thought that Pirates had no more business on Tallon IV. The Phazon market has dried up, hasn't it?" Epsillius shrugged. The rest of the way was absent of conversation.

Finally, Epsillius spoke once more. "We are here." A blue hatch in front of them irised open, and revealed a vast room on the other side. It was a 30-by-30 room that went up about 13 or 14 levels. Room wasn't an accurate term, when in fact shaft seemed to better describe it. It was octagonal, and there was an open, central area that ran all the way up to the ceiling where people, or rather, Pirates, could look over the edge and see what was going on below. Each level was littered with computer terminals and stasis tubes, which were empty in most cases but in others held trinkets or other mechanical devices. Tallonian Pirates were gathered around monitors, looking over data and scribbling notes in small hand-held computers.

As Samus entered the room, accompanied by the red Myrnai warrior, a hush fell over the Pirates as they all turned to look at her. Hundreds of eyes were trained on her every move as she walked into the base of operations, and several Pirates shivered. A few guards broke from their normal positions and moved slowly up to her. She could see fear behind their eyes, behind all their eyes. The deathly silence screamed in her ears as she fought her normal habit of slaughtering every last Pirate in the room.

"She is unarmed," Epsillius said coolly, "Her weapons have been deactivated." Samus felt a degree of tension lift from the room, but everyone maintained their intent stares, as if waiting for her to end their lives. And how she longed to oblige them, but there was still something holding her back.

Samus smiled a devious smile. "Oh, but I'm still so dangerous." She said placidly, as a guard edged up next to her, scythe blade at the ready. Suddenly, he lunged at her, but before he could claim the glory of killing the Hunter, she grabbed his arm and flipped him over her head, sending him careening into a pile of crates on the far edge of the room.

"Let me explain," Epsillius said, casually glancing over where the Pirate was rubbing his aching head. "Samus is here to... help us with our problem. She will defeat the Torizo that have claimed the Pirate frigate, giving us access to the supplies inside. That way, we can make good our escape!"

Samus cocked her head to one side. This had somehow been absent from previous conversations. "What do you mean, 'make good our escape'? What do you need to escape from?"

Epsillius turned and faced her. "Perhaps it is time you learned of our true plight," he started. Samus sighed inwardly. This Pirate seemed to enjoy long speeches. "We are the Radon Pirates, and we have chosen that name for a very good reason: we seeped through the layers of Space Pirate loyalty and trickery, essentially colorless and odorless because of our low level on the 'totem pole,' as you humans like to say. Despite that, we are still a great danger to what remains of the Pirate mainstay.

"I didn't only come to this planet searching for supplies. I came here hoping for survivors. Ever since I left the primary base where us... er, I guess you could call us 'resistance members'... were holed up, I was tracked by a ship from our enemies. When I arrived, I guess the little bugger sent a report, because a few days afterwards we detected a scout ship arrive on the planet's surface, not too far away from here. We know an attack is immanent, so we have been preparing..."

"So, what else have you been hiding from me, eh?" Samus asked irritably. "Were the Torizo a lie too? Just to draw me here to lure me into fighting your battles for you? Well?!" Her tone raised quite a few significant pitches.

Epsillius merely shook his head calmly. "The Torizo are real, and are as big a threat as I told you, perhaps even bigger than I can possibly imagine. The other Pirates are just like the Torizo, only they're nigh unlimited in number. We don't know how soon they will arrive, but we do know that they will throw as many as they can at us to rid themselves of us, this thorn in their side." He gestured broadly at all the Pirates surrounding him. "And we will not give up this base, even if it means losing our lives in the process."

Part of Samus was moved by his speech, but the ever-vigilant warrior side of Samus continued screaming in her ear that she should just open up with a volley of Super Missiles before things get out of hand, but that was again subdued by the empathy she felt for the Space Pirates, the foreign feeling she had never before associated with them.

"...fine," she finally said, "I'll still go along with it. But I want more than what we previously agreed upon."

"How does double it sound?"

"Fine by me."

"Good," the Myrnai stated, getting as close to smiling as he could. "Then let's start talking tactics. Now, I know you're used to Chozo-designed weapons, but after analyzing the data left by Command during their last occupation here, we believe we can outfit you with some new technology..." His voice grew distant and faded out as Samus fell deep into thought. Something pulled at the back of her mind, telling her this wasn't at all right. She knew that, but whatever it was, it was trying to tell her exactly what wasn't, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't listen to it.

Somewhere, deep in space but not too far away from Tallon IV, an asteroid belt drifted in its paces lazily across the cosmos. There was nothing special about asteroid belts nowadays. After all, with a sophisticated enough ship, maneuvering around and through these rings of loosely correlated rocks was no difficulty.

But one rock drifted a little off tilt. The naked eye couldn't see the disturbance, and even the most sophisticated online computer would just make it out to be a rock that was just knocked off balance during a collision with something, like another asteroid or a ship.

But a Space Dragon could sense its movement.

And on top rested such a being, his eyes closed as if he was in deep meditation. He was in the same position a dog is when obeying a command to sit. His long, serpentine tail was wrapped around the base of its feet, and his wings were wrapped around his arms like a blanket. He had a skeletal head, with a long, solid bone snout. It didn't matter if his eyes were closed, for in the void his black body merely blended into his surroundings. His talons were dug into the asteroid, causing its spin to be thrown off, but the dragon didn't care. He was busy listening.

Suddenly, his eyes flew open, revealing the ruby red eyes, like the gems they were akin to, but they quickly narrowed into slits. _So, it _is _true,_ he thought, gazing off in the direction of Tallon IV. _The Hunter has returned, and she has joined with our rogue band of brethren._ He closed his eyes again, and reached out with his thoughts, trying to find the mind he was searching for. After a moment, he easily located it.

_Brother Kraid,_ his voice penetrated through space and time as it reached his target, _the scout was right after all. Perhaps we shouldn't have killed him... But regardless, the Hunter is there, so we must act quickly..._ He opened his eyes again. His comrade couldn't reply telepathically, like he could, but he knew he would do his best to contact the Dragon. With that, he stood up on his hind legs, stretching out his massive wings and arms, and allowing his tail to uncoil to its full length.

He had been sitting on that rock for days, and felt it was time to move around again. After all, he was Ridley, Scourge of Zebes, and he could do whatever he damn well felt like. He looked around casually for a little while and pushed off the rock with a powerful kick. Perhaps he would prowl around the system. Who knows? He could get lucky and find a ship to play with until Kraid and the rest of the Pirates arrived.


	6. Chapter 5: First Encounter

Chapter 5: First Encounter

Dash seemed to whistle and grumble at the same time as he flew his old spaceship across space en-route to Tallon IV. On one hand, he had gotten everything he had asked for but the new spaceship. But on the other hand, he had gotten everything he had asked for _except the bloody new spaceship!_ So now he was stuck with his old ship, but that was comfy enough. It had two large engines on either side, which would make a great amount of noise when in the atmosphere, but out here in the void they were soundless. The rest of his ship was made up of four simple chambers: the cockpit, at the front center; his living quarters, which was next to the left engine; the storage room, situated next to the right engine, and the rec room, which made up the center of the ship, including the back hatch that could be lowered to help transport particularly heavy items out of the ship. It also had defenses, namely double Vulcan cannons, a beam emulator, and 4 missile pods with nigh limitless ammo capacity.

"Stupid Federation," he grumbled, carefully maneuvering his ship through the asteroid belt. "I didn't want their stupid ship anyway..."

He tried to console himself. _It's not that bad_, he thought. He was now the best bounty hunter in the galaxy, he was recruited by the federation for a 500 billion credit job, he was equipped with all the latest gadgets the Feds had to offer, and now he was headed to collect some pirate claws that would further increase his wealth. Afterwards, he could go back to his cozy little apartment and reap the benefits of being the best there is...

An annoying chirping sound interrupted his daydreams of grandeur. He glanced at the console before him, and realized he had just exited the asteroid belt. _Big whoop_, he thought to himself again, but then realized it wasn't that which set off the alert. He was picking up a large shape coming at him from his right... His eyes darted to the starboard camera, and caught the shape of a Space Dragon silhouetted by a far away nebula.

"Shit!" He cried, and grabbed the controls, flinging them to the side. He looked out the visor of his ship and saw the Dragon go flying by, just missing his ship. "Computer! Identify that Dragon, and return full manual control to me!"

Ridley snarled, realizing he had missed his intended target. And what was worse was that it was a _clunker!_ Their irrational design made them slow, and supposedly easy to hit, but this one avoided him.

_It just got lucky_, he thought, and came around for another charge. _Let's see how long your luck holds out while I toy with you!_

** Bioform: Ridley, Space Dragon, Space Pirate, ** Dash's onboard computer printed out on a small portion of the screen. ** Danger Level: Extremely High. Ridley is equipped with razor sharp claws on his hands and feet, a whip-like tail, a strong bite, and fire breathing capabilities (all natural weapons). GALACTIC FEDERATION DATABASE DOWNLOAD COMMENCING: Ridley is a tactical genius, calm and composed on the battlefield. He rules his soldiers with fist and fiery breath. His agility is unmatched while in space, but he cannot use his fire breath. There is one occasion that proves his ability: while engaged in combat over the planet K97, an entire Galactic Federation fleet engaged Ridley when he was all alone. Rescue ships were sent in after the carnage only to find the entire fleet demolished and only 16 survivors, 3 of which died not long after from the fatal wounds received in the battle, and one now lives out his days in a psyche ward. All eyewitness accounts have one startling fact: throughout the course of the battle, Ridley did not take a single hit. RECOMMENDED COURSE OF ACTION: Do not engage Ridley. Attempt to run. **

"I could've told you that," Dash muttered, just before receiving another early warning. He dived down, and felt the jaws of the monster shear off the first layer of titanium armor above his head. He turned around to find Ridley turning slowly in an arc to come back around again. Charging up the beam, he opened with the Vulcans, and found that his bullets harmlessly bounced off the armored carapace of the creature. He released locks on missile pods one and two, and opened fire. The missiles rushed to their target, which easily avoided them all, theatrically swatting a few of them as they passed. Ridley was now totally turned around and rushed at him with an open mouth, ready to swallow the craft whole. Dash saw his moment, and released a fully charged, superheated beam straight into the Dragon's mouth.

Fire engulfed Ridley's mouth, and he tried to let out a screech, but to no avail. No oxygen in space meant no screaming, but he was fine with that. But he wasn't fine with this recent turn of events. A beam emulator! And how similar to Samus's beam system it was... It reminded him of their first battle, so long ago, back on Zebes. He had been so cocky then, and felt that even though Samus had beaten his comrade-in-arms Kraid, he felt he could put her to rest and avenge his fallen friend. But he was wrong. She opened with Super Missiles, and weakened him to the point where simple missiles and charge beams could bring him down.

He shuddered at the horrible memory. All those defeats at her hands... and he was constantly resurrected by the Pirates, whether it be Mother Brain or the Command structure. He was valuable, but was it not dishonorable to continue living after defeat? He could never quite grasp Mother Brain's outlook on life, but still...

Suddenly, he collided with the ship, and let out a soundless cry of surprise. Of course! The ship! How silly of him. He grinned a toothy grin. He was having so much fun...

The ship rocked as Ridley's massive frame smashed into the ship, resulting in a large dent in the side. The Dragon opened his mouth, seeming to want to make a sound.

_Is that Dragon mocking me?!_ Dash thought furiously. Time to show him what a bounty hunter could really do... With that, he angled himself towards the planet Tallon IV, and turned the engines to full power. He rocketed soundlessly towards the planet, and prepared for supersonic-speed atmospheric entry.

Ridley looked after the retreating space ship in silent shock. Did... did it just run _away?_ Nobody would get away from Ridley! He lunged after the ship, pushing himself hard and beating his wings, creating momentum enough to try and catch up with the ship. The ship had already made it halfway through the atmosphere before Ridley even entered it, but at the rate he was going, it wouldn't be much of a problem to catch up to the bounty hunter. A second behind the bounty hunter, they both burst into the stratosphere, and Ridley experienced something new.

Now, before, when he had first come to Tallon IV, he was protected by metagenic enhancements and specially made power armor. This time, however, it was just his naturally armored carapace versus the climate of the world. They were just above the Phendrana Drifts, the coldest part of Tallon IV, and Ridley had just exited the atmosphere, and he was still hot.

But Phendrana was not.

Steam started to rise from his body as it tried to even out the temperatures, but with a Space Dragon, it proved difficult. They had a natural furnace inside that fueled their fiery breath, always generating heat, but without the power armor to keep that in, it seeped out his skin.

Ridley began twitching uncontrollably, his muscles reacting spasmatically to the constantly high-or-low temperatures assaulting his body. His wings seemed to have a mind of their own, and flapped at irregular intervals, sending him veering off course and careening towards the Chozo Ruins off in the distance.

Inside his head, Ridley screamed in frustration.

Dash breathed a sigh of relief when he looked back to see the Dragon veering off course. It must've lost interest with him. He turned his attention back to Phendrana. The bounty hunter had chosen this area because his ship had picked up the operations signal from Samus' ship.

Of course, he began wondering. Did this mean Samus was alive? That his newly-appointed, nay, _earned_ title was in danger? Shouldn't her ship have been ripped apart by the Space Pirates?

His mind darkened. But he _was_ the top bounty hunter. If Samus didn't have that suit, then he could beat her. He could beat her _easily_. His grip on the controls tightened until it felt like his knuckles would burst open. He relaxed, and then turned the ship in a tight loop. It was time to find the truth behind Samus' alleged "disappearance."

As Dash broke through the cloud layer, he almost fell out of his seat in shock. Before him was a giant mass of metal surrounded by a ring of mountains and stretching flat, icy plains, but not randomly placed there. It was all molded into spires and buildings, walls and cables, wires and conduits. He immediately recognized the craftsmanship: Space Pirates! But... Samus' ship signal was coming from _inside_ the base! Did that mean she was captured? Then he did earn his title after all! He turned the ship around and looked for a plateau to set down on and observe the base from afar. He noticed a ledge that jutted out from the side of a mountain, and angled his ship toward it. As he landed, he thought to himself, _A nice balcony view._

A few kilometers away, Ridley's internal temperature finally stabilized, but he remained lying in the snow drift. His pride had been dealt a glancing blow, and his will to get up was shattered. A simple ship had beaten him! The pilot's tactics were marvelous... surely an enemy to watch out for in the future.

He tensed his muscles to rise, but before he actually did, he reached out with his mind and probed around a bit. He squawked in surprise as he encountered hundreds of minds, if not thousands, all together in one spot. They must have been his renegade pirates... He dared not probe into anyone in particular, lest he be discovered, and while his body adjusted he was weak.

Reaching out again, into space this time, he made contact with Kraid, who was speedily moving toward the system. It would be days before he reached him though...

_Kraid,_ he mind-spoke, _come to where I am on the planet Tallon IV. I think you will be quite surprised..._ He broke contact and made himself comfortable. It would be awhile.


	7. Chapter 6: Testing

Chapter 6: Testing

Samus Aran was practically being led by the hand through the long winding corridor. Ahead of her was Epsillius, the red-colored Pirate with a mechanical arm and a Chozo cloak. His color made him look quite like that old Earth delicacy, the lobster. Behind her were two Tallonian Pirates, each clutching nervously high-powered laser rifles. It was obvious they still did not trust her completely. And why should they?

They passed through another iris hatch and walked through a gently curving corridor. To Samus' left was an open section of wall, bars resembling that of a rib cage all that stood between anyone and falling hundreds of meters to their doom below. There was no screen or protective shield, so this hall was exposed to the elements. She could easily tell due to the layer of ice beneath her feet, but her suit adjusted properly and kept her from slipping.

Looking out through the bars, she could see large ice fields that steeply swooped upward into jagged snow-capped peaks in the distance. It would have been a long run if she ever wanted to escape, and she had heard in a little mini-briefing while they were walking that this base was set up with an independent power source, three backup generators and heavy plasma turrets placed strategically around and on the base. She had yet to see any of these, however.

"By the way," Epsillius spontaneously said over his shoulder. "We took the liberty of moving your ship from that far-away ice field to our hangar at the top of the main spire. We hope you don't mind."

Samus bristled beneath her helmet, head swirling with things to say and do to this Pirate, but merely nodded in acknowledgement. In the back of her mind, she searched for the answer to why she was feeling so nice towards the very beings that destroyed her home! But the deeper she went, it seemed the deeper her empathy for the Pirates was. Were these feeling old? Had she always related to the Pirates, but just never realized it? Was... was she truly a Pirate at heart?

Pondering these emotions, she absent-mindedly followed Epsillius through a couple more iris hatches until finally they stopped at one in the middle of a hallway. It opened smoothly, revealing a large inner chamber. The ceiling curved slightly upward into a gradual point. The walls were covered with scorch marks, dents, and blood, some dry, some still dripping. Up against the curved wall were two bodies, one propped up and another spread out across the floor. The spread out one seemed to have been there for days, while the one propped up seemed freshly deceased. In the center of the grand room stood two Tallonian Pirate technicians, busily pouring over data pads and a piece of equipment, but both turned toward her when the door opened. Taking a step back instinctively, they soon recovered.

One flipped the other a shiny credit. "She made it without killing any of them. I'm shocked." Samus let out a guttural snarl, and both returned to quietness.

"We're here about testing the new weapons for the Hunter," Epsillius said, ignoring both sides of the conflict. "I understand that you have been working on the newest creations for our guest."

Both Pirates were suddenly fully upright at the sound of Epsillius' voice. Samus wondered if he ruled by compassion... or fear. "Yes, sir," one said, "We do indeed have prototypes ready, but... we would really like to see the Hunter perform first, just to make sure that we have included for every possible scenario."

The red Pirate looked at Samus, and Samus stared back at him from under the visor. "Will you do it?" He asked. She looked deep into his green eyes, and saw a kind of hope.

"Yes," she suddenly said, catching herself off guard. "Test me." What did she think she was doing?! But, oh well, at least she could scare the Pirates, right? Scare them into giving her upgrades. But something didn't seem right about the way she was thinking. Was something...

"As you wish," the other Pirate technician spoke. It jolted her back to reality, but she didn't show it. She was skilled at hiding her emotions while in her suit, and even out of it. The two walked towards a far wall, where there was a plexiglass window and a door. At least, it looked like plexiglass, but was probably some sort of super-protective shielding. She wondered what she would be facing. They motioned for Epsillius and the two Pirate guards to follow them, and the five passed through the door, reappearing on the other side of the window.

"Alright Samus," the first technician spoke into a microphone, seeming to simultaneously adjust some controls on the other side that were just below the window, "We have a test robot that we'd like you to... test out yourself. It's the pinnacle of Pirate technology, but from what we've heard about you and your suit, it should pose no challenge." There was an audible click on the other side as he pressed a button or something like that, and then the floor quaked. A large hatch that she had previously missed slid open easily, and a giant robot leaped out from under it. It shut before it landed, giving the behemoth of machinery ground to stand on. It was a massive piece of work, standard to all Pirate designs: stripped bare of smoothness and aerodynamics down to sheer practicality. And that helped its menacing look. There were clusters of sensors all over the head, but mostly seemed to be concentrated in the head area. It had two arms, the right ending in a large beam cannon not unlike hers, and the left ending with a large, sharp, and alarming claw. It had two legs, each of equal length and thickness, capable of stomping the bounty hunter to dust. As it moved, she could hear the whine of servos come from inside a shell of armor that looked very hard to penetrate.

Suddenly, the battle was on. It moved with shocking speed, rushing Samus with its claw outstretched, but the Chozo blood within Samus was quicker. She rolled up into her Morph Ball and rolled out of the way, leaving behind a simple bomb for it to pick up. As she unfurled, she saw it detonate in the metal monstrosity's hand, but it did not affect it. _I thought as much_, she thought. The robot lunged once more, but this time, she did something completely unexpected: she jumped towards it. Of course, it wasn't her jump, but rather her Screw Attack. She tucked her head against her knees and propelled herself through the air, energy from her internal power source rushing over her body. She slammed full-force against its heavily armored shell, but was bounced back suddenly as she ricocheted of its armor. She looked up at it and noticed it wasn't at all scratched. Well, it might have been, but it was moving again and Samus couldn't track any particular region of it. It jumped against the far wall and brought up its arm cannon. There was a click, the end of the cannon opened up further, and suddenly two large missiles came screaming out of it, rushing toward her with frightening intensity. She put all of her strength behind her legs and kicked off from the floor just in time, as the missiles impacted where she was not a second earlier.

"Dammit," she swore, "I can't fight this thing without knowing what it is!" Her hand came up and lightly grazed the side of her helmet. The visor inside suddenly switched, its combat readings disappearing and being replaced with a tracking icon and a slightly magnified screen. The icon locked onto the massive piece of moving servos and weapons, and stayed there as the suit's systems analyzed the robot for the next five seconds. The most agonizing five seconds of Samus' day so far. Finally, after it finished, her helmet beeped a requiem from the fighting:

** TechnoForm: SPX-059. Construct. Purpose: Testing of new equipment; Prototype of new Pirate combat robot. This robot is equipped with the latest in Pirate motor functions, abilities, weapons, and defenses. Super Electromagnetic Shielding defends it against interference while a heavily armored shell protects the inner workings of the robot, which are far from delicate. Its left arm is a very sharp claw, capable of shredding Titanium X. Despite its massive size, it has incredible speed without visually apparent boosters. Its right arm is a powerful and complicated beam cannon and missile launcher, equipped with all the beam and missile technology you had while on this planet. This includes Missiles; Super Missiles; Power, Ice, Wave, and Plasma Beams; and a Grappling Beam, though not so much for swinging from things as dragging them in closer. However, with all these features built in, this makes the arm cannon the most unstable part of the robot, but also the most heavily armored. All over its body are small sensor arrays, but its primary array is located where a head would be. Super EM protection prevents electrical damage, but the array is prone to overheat. USE EXTREME CAUTION WHEN ENGAGING THIS ROBOT! **

"Thanks for the helpful info," she growled, but soon realized what it could help her with. She rolled out of the way of a plasma beam shot, then jumped high into the air. She fired her own version of the plasma beam at the sensory region that made up its 'head'. They quickly sparked and glowed, and an update appeared on her HUD:

** Primary Sensor Array disabled. **

She landed behind it, but was surprised when it wheeled around at her and charged her, swatting her with its large arm cannon. She hit the wall hard enough for her to bounce off with a sickening _crack_, landing with another meters away from the robot, which was once again preparing to fire its cannon arm. Energy poured into her broken body, repairing every injury but depleting her energy tanks quickly, leaving her dangerously low. She looked up from the ground and saw her chance. Without getting up, she brought up her arm cannon, switched to missile mode, and launched a diffusion missile at the cannon. It passed through right after the end opened to allow passage for a super missile, which the diffusion missile struck. The resulting explosion caused a chain reaction which ended with the entire right arm destroyed. Seeing her chance, Samus jumped up and ran full-speed towards the behemoth. She leaped for the hole in its side where the arm once was, rolled into a Morph Ball, and slipped inside. Electrical currents bombarded her, but her insulated suit prevented any major damage. She laid down a power bomb, then rolled out of the robot, unfurled back to full height, and jumped up against the wall, though it was unnecessary: her power bombs were specifically designed to not harm her or her suit by ignoring her specific DNA, which was also now part of the suit.

Power bombs take a notoriously long time to detonate, but also cause a devastating amount of damage. They are said to be the most damaging and dangerous bomb device one can carry. So when it went off inside the robot, first it exploded outward, shattering the robot and all its components into fine dust, then imploding back into itself, cleaning up the mess it would normally leave behind. All that remained was a large, jet-black crater in the floor, with a hole in the middle where the ductile deformation reached failure.

Five stunned Pirates, who had been watching the battle with interest, suddenly broke out into chatter, speaking far too fast for Samus' translator to pick up.

Soon, though, the chatter stopped, and they all looked at Samus. One of the guards said, "Are you sure you want to give her the additional weapons?"

Epsillius nodded. "Yes, I'm sure."

Samus smiled under her helmet. Maybe Epsillius was worth trusting. He seemed to have faith in her, so why could it be vice versa? _No, dammit_, she thought, shaking her head slightly, _they're the enemy! Do not sympathize with them!_ But then, if they were the enemy, then why did she side with them?

"Samus," one of the technicians said into the microphone, "We're done here. Ummm... nice job. Don't worry about the floor, the next load of scrap will be passing by the planet real soon, so we'll have that fixed for your weapons testing soon enough." The door swished open and Epsillius followed by the two guards exited the observation room. She allowed herself to relax. If Epsillius and the two guards were out here, then they wouldn't throw another test at her. But if they did, maybe she would be able to see Epsillius in action.

"Come, Samus," Epsillius called from the exit, "We still have to show you the rest of the base." Samus obliged by walking over to him and following him out with the guards behind her. She sighed, but it didn't travel outside her helmet. This set up again...

Dash Stardrex lounged in his rec room, sipping at a pot of coffee. As he did so, he mulled over the apparent facts: Samus was AWOL, her ship was in pirate custody, and a while ago he detected large energy signals coming from within the base itself. They looked like weapon discharges. Samus' weapons' discharges. He could only reach one possible conclusion: they killed her and took her suit. He sighed. It was going to be rough...

A loud beeping sound interrupted his thoughts. He got up with a sigh, still clutching his coffee pot, and made his way to the cockpit. As he suspected, a little red light flashed on the control panel. He sat down heavily, hit a switch, and then focused his attention on a monitor. Frederick Malcovich's head and shoulders appeared on the screen.

"Dash, what is your status?" He asked.

"I'm on Tallon IV," he said after another sip of coffee. "Specifically in the Phendrana Regions. I detected the operational signal from Samus' ship from orbit, and after a brief tussle with the space dragon Ridley I made it here in one piece." Another sip.

Frederick seemed baffled. "You... you outran Ridley?"

"I _am_ the best there is."

"Fine," Frederick replied, "Just tell me the status of Samus Aran."

This time, Dash took a big gulp of coffee before talking. "Well, upon arriving on the surface," he started, "And after losing Ridley, I found a large Pirate base. It's not on any intel maps that I've received, so either you're giving me false information or this was built recently. I've determined through scans that it has an independent source of power, but its trucking a lot of power underground to the Phazon Mines. Might be worth investigating..."

"Just get on with Samus..." Frederick rubbed his temples impatiently.

"Hold your horses. Now," the bounty hunter continued, "Along with that energy line, I also detected massive energy surges somewhere deep in the base. Soon after that, I detected large amounts of weapon energy, especially one massive spike similar to that of a power bomb."

"Well, the Pirates have been trying to reverse engineer Samus' systems for years..."

"No, 'sir', you're not following. The power bomb and other weapon discharges were extremely similar, to the point of being nearly identical with Samus' weapons. In fact, I'm willing to bet the only reason they're off is because of interference from some sort of shielding on the base itself. I'll put money on the idea that those _are Samus' weapons!_"

"Then... what do you think happened?"

"I believe they overpowered her with a large amount of forces, then killed her, removed her suit and are now using the weapons directly." He didn't mention the ship on purpose.

"Maybe... Maybe she's still alive?"

"I doubt it. Both you and I know that Samus would sooner die that let the Pirates have her suit. I believe she's dead."

Frederick fell silent. After a minute, he looked back up with pain in his eyes. "Very well then, Dash. Full responsibility of the operation is now up to you. Stop the Pirate operations there, and retrieve that suit, and, if possible, Samus' body. We need the suit for study, and the body for burial. Though I doubt she has any family."

"I want salvage rights for Samus' ship."

"W-What?!" he stammered, "Wasn't the ship-"

"No, it's in one piece, but in Pirate custody. My ship isn't good enough to go into the base with, and I'll need a ship to escape with. That will be Samus' ship. And then I want to keep it."

"You soulless bastard!" Frederick yelled at Dash. "She was one of the greatest and now you just want her things?! Why don't you just-"

"Do you want the Pirates stopped or not, councilman?" Dash asked, completely unfazed by the outburst. "Because I can just as easily turn around and..."

Frederick stared at Dash for a moment, looking quite pissed. Then he took a breath, exhaled, and then spoke: "You have your orders, Mr. Stardrex. Ending transmission." The image winked out, and Dash leaned back in his chair.

_God I love my job_, he thought as he finished off his coffee.


	8. Chapter 7: Official Recruitment

Chapter 7: Official Recruitment

**::From the Journals of Epsillius the Space Pirate:**

** Date Removed **

**We have had Samus in our base for two days and already tension is high-strung. I hoped allowing the Hunter free reign and interaction with my soldiers that the stress would be alleviated, but it has not been so. Whenever she enters a room, all the workers stop and stare, and I can feel certain awkwardness on both sides. If it wasn't for the fact that I make her disarm whenever she is moving about the base, I'm sure she would have exterminated most of us before we could even touch her. In fact, we haven't allowed reactivation of her weapons since the test in the chamber, due to the apparently great destructive capabilities, even with minimal weapons. Our science team works hard to complete the additional weapons that we've designed for her, but they are still baffled by the more complex workings of the Chozo suit, especially this redesigned one.**

**Samus remains ignorant of the entire plan, but knows enough to be willing to help. Of course, our mental augmentation hasn't hurt. In fact, we estimate that without it she would be much less willing to help and much more so to kill us all. We don't doubt that figure.**

**Whether or not the augmentation will have an effect on her intuitivism remains to be seen, however, and if it does then we have no fear of her discovering the extent of our operations.**

**Epsillius**

**/end entry::**

Sitting on a chair in her quarters, Samus Aran worked diligently on her fusion suit. Her "captors" had brought in the table, a chair, and some equipment and components for her to use to help upgrade her suit. Despite the numerous advances her suit had come downloaded and absorbed; there were still several functions that had yet to be restored. She had always meant to restore them herself, but she hadn't had a good time to sit down with some tools since the planet SR388 was destroyed.

On the table currently was her helmet, with her suit draped across her bed like a full-body jumpsuit. She was in her flight vest, shorts, and mid-calf high boots that she normally wore while in it. She tinkered around inside her helmet, prying off a panel with a screwdriver, picking a component out of the pile, and putting it in place. It easily slid into the slot. Then she grabbed a handful of wires, connected them then flattened them down as much as she could. She replaced the panel and placed the helmet over her head. She reached up and touched her helmet, and suddenly the world around her became illuminated in red and blue areas of varying intensity.

She breathed a sigh of relief. She finally installed the Thermal Visor. It took her a while with the limited access to technology, but after a few hours of preparation and of crossing the necessary wires, it was finally in place. She switched the helmet back to her combat visor, and took it off.

It was a pain. The Pirate technology was hard enough to get the suit to accept before it had been molded into this more organic look. Back when she had her original Chozo designed suit, she just had to slam in the appropriate component and wait for the suit to adjust its software accordingly. The Pirate technology never agreed with the Chozo technology, but it worked at least. Now, with her _new_ suit, she didn't even know if Chozo upgrades would still be absorbed!

She stole another glance at her suit. One of the abilities she had hoped to restore was the Spider Ball, which let her roll up specialized magnetic tracks, but that hadn't been a Pirate creation: it was one of the Chozo upgrades she had located it, and lost it back on SR388. That meant she had to find another upgrade somewhere else in the galaxy for it. That along with the "Spazer Lazer" which had been a particularly neat trick...

There was a beep at the door, and Samus rushed over to her suit. She donned it in less than five seconds, and then called, "Come in." Samus did not want to be caught outside her suit: she was more vulnerable (though still very formidable).

The door swished open and Epsillius strode into the room. He glanced at the table and smiled (or what seemed like smiling). "Have you been working on those Visor systems?"

"Yeah," she said, and sighed. "The modifications to _allow_ further modifications took several hours, then installing the thermal visor took a couple more. I don't know how long I've been down here, but I do know that the X-ray visor is in _no_ shape to be installed again. I swear that X infection screwed me up more than I thought..."

Epsillius shook his head. "No need to beat yourself up about it."

She nodded and then crossed back over to the equipment table. She picked up her helmet, put it over her head, then reactivated her thermal vision. "You've got a lot of heat coming off that claw of yours," she said, pointing towards his metal claw. "That's a huge no-no for combat. Could give you away."

"It's a design flaw," he said. "I can't do much about it, though."

Samus smirked. Despite the sudden connection she felt with the new Pirate leader, they were still too wrapped up in advancing forward that they never tried to fix bugs in their previous things. That was another design flaw.

"Samus," the Pirate spoke, interrupting her train of thought. "They've finally finished a couple of your upgrades in the testing chamber. They asked me to bring you to them."

"Oh?" she asked inquisitively, "Have they finally finished?" She had been curious to see what the Pirates could come up for her. They obviously couldn't make much advancement, but she wanted to see what they could have possibly come up with.

"Follow me, please," he said, and walked out the door. Samus followed, but this time not because of compassion, but because of curiosity.

A few minutes later she was back in the large, expansive area that was the testing grounds. The walls were the same: scorched and pock-marked. The floor was still pitted, but the hole in the middle was patched up rather roughly. She again found herself fighting to keep from laughing at the shoddy Pirate workmanship.

The two technicians stood at the far end, again pouring over a couple of devices. As she drew nearer, she recognized one as her grappling beam. At least, something like it. The other was foreign to her.

They looked up and stood straight as she and Epsillius approached, but they seemed much less tense. In fact, they seemed very relaxed.

"Ah, Hunter, we were hoping we'd see you today," one technician said, rather joyfully. "I and my colleague have finished the first of your two upgrades." They motioned behind them to the grappling beam and other strange weapon.

"I'm sure you're familiar with this...?" The other spoke, picking up the grappling beam and handing it to her. "It has been modified to better suit your needs when you must fight the Torizo. It can latch on to anything with even a trace element of metal or other grapple-friendly material, and can create an electrical disturbance, enough to disable almost any device." He handed it to her, and she fit in on her left arm. It fit snugly over her spikes, and it felt like it had always been a part of her suit. She nodded in satisfaction.

"Now this," said the next Pirate technician, "Is a true weapon. For lack of a better term, is a Gatling Gun. We don't work well with beam weapons. In fact, our Galvanic Accelerator Cannons are bought from another source. However, we are the galaxy leaders in the manufacture and development of solid ammunition-based weapons. The design is taken straight off of our robotic drones, so it's tested and approved. It has been enlarged, however, to fit your cannon. The rounds are larger, explosive, and enhanced to pierce almost any material known to Pirate kind. We've improved on the design from our drones, which couldn't pierce your armor when you last attacked the Pirate mainstay here." He smiled. "Try it on," he ended, and handed it over.

It only seemed to be the end of the barrel. She stuck it to the end of her cannon, and waited. Suddenly, it glowed bright orange, and data started flashing across her visor. At first it was "Foreign Technology Present" and "Rejection Immanent". She realized it was probably designed to match the configuration of her old suit, and her new one wouldn't accept it. Suddenly new data came scrolling by: "Compatibility Detected; "Attempting to compensate..." and "Connection Being Established". Finally, it read "Download of New Weapon Complete. Full analysis available on suit database."

She looked at her gun arm, and noticed the barrel of the Gatling Gun was gone. Instead, the barrel of her arm cannon was slightly wider, with four bulges around it. A new option appeared on her HUD:

"Equip Gatling, huh?" she said to herself. "Let's see what it looks like." The suit responded to her thoughts and the cannon began to transform. First, it swelled out to a perfect cylinder. Then the four bulges moved fluidly up to the barrel, and emerged out as four smaller yet big-for-their-function barrels. A rotating base formed, and an ammo counter appeared on her HUD. Stealing a glance at the technicians, they were both in complete awe, their mouths hanging open and the one on the left beginning to drool. Epsillius stood with his mouth closed, but what could have been and eyebrow-raised expression.

"Cool," she said. "Do you have anything I could try it out on?"

The technicians responded immediately by standing upright once more. "Yes we do. Why else would we provide you with these weapons? To test on us?" They laughed nervously, and then retreated quickly into the control room with Epsillius.

"I'm sure you'll remember this," one spoke into the microphone. There were numerous clicks and beeps, then another large hatch opened in the ceiling. A familiar looking robot dropped down and landed with a clang on the floor. "This is a combat version," the other technician spoke up. "More developed and with more advanced systems than the prototype that you fought a few days ago." As if to justify that statement, the robot beat its chest with its claw and unleashed a hellish inferno with a newly-found flamethrower.

But Samus wasn't in the mood to go the long way about it. It shot out an Ice Spreader, a projectile that upon contact froze its target and anything within ten feet of it in solid ice. Samus nimbly jumped out of the way, then rolled into a morph ball and rolled between its legs when it tried to fire the Wave Buster. The Wave Buster was a weapon Samus once had on Tallon IV: it was a continuous stream of electricity that seeked out targets and electrocuted them. The beam tried to follow the morph ball, but instead struck the robot. It teetered slightly, but otherwise recovered. It turned around quickly, but Samus was already up and ready. She leveled the grappling beam with the robot's head and fired, the lance of constant energy reaching out and striking the thing's head and staying there. She felt a surge of electricity move up her arm and into the grappling beam, where it traveled through the current and into the robot's central nervous system. It powered down and fell onto its back and lay still.

"That's not fair," a technician's voice came through the speaker system after a pause, "You were supposed to use the Gatling Gun."

"Oh?" she said, and trotted over to the fallen robot. She carefully aimed the weapon at its head and fired. The bullets ripped through the armor, shredding the entire head unit while the bullets kept going and ripped through the floor. She aimed up a little and set her sights on the chest without interrupting the stream of projectiles. The chest armor and anything inside was at once torn up by the hail of metal while her ammo counter steadily dropped. When she let up, the floor and robot were almost unrecognizable. In the chest, sparks flew and what remained of the servos stopped spinning, and the robot was no more.

Samus brought the smoking barrel up to her visor and examined it closely. She nodded in approval. "Impressive," she said, "But it lacks finesse. And it has limited ammunition. Hardly worth it. But I must admit that the shredding capability may come in handy." She looked back at the control-room door and saw it swish aside and the three Pirates came out. The two technicians rushed over to the fallen robot and began to look it over.

"We only have so many of these, you know," one said as he took in all the damage. Samus merely smiled under her helmet. She turned to Epsillius, who merely looked back at her with his emerald eyes.

"Samus, come with me to Central Control," the red Pirate said, "We have some business we would like to discuss."

The bounty hunter shrugged. _What the hell_, she thought. _It's better than watching these guys clean up_. They both left through the main door, leaving the technicians to their repairs.

Samus and Epsillius walked into Central Control, which was the Command Center that she had visited a few days earlier. It turned out that this ran up through the main spire of the entire base. The "ceiling" she had observed earlier was really a blast door, and now that it was retraced, she couldn't see the top. But she had been told that towards the top it ended and became a pointed communications antenna. Around her, Pirate voices buzzed so fast that she could only pick up snippets of their sentences:

"...trajectory is being maintained..."

"...five hour window before it moves to extreme range..."

"...standard freighter, speed no issue..."

"...teams 15 and 22 report to boarding craft..."

The bits she could understand made her frown. What was going on? She had a gut feeling that it involved what Epsillius needed to talk to her about.

They crossed over into a section with surrounding terminals and two wide-screen monitors on the wall behind them. Each tracked the trajectory and pathway of an object that Samus could tell was passing close by Tallon IV. All the little terminals were ablaze with data that scrolled by at intense speeds, but not so intense that the bounty hunter couldn't tell what they were saying.

Epsillius was speaking quickly to a technician, talking in some kind of super-fast, slurred Pirate language, making it impossible for her to tell what they were saying. Not that she cared... wait, what? That didn't make sense. Why didn't she care? Didn't she _want_ to know the business of the Space Pirates?

Finally, Epsillius said something slow enough for her to understand: "That should have most of the necessary components, and I have no doubt the Hunter will be able to procure the rest from those damnable Torizo..."

"Huh?" Samus perked up from hearing her nickname.

"Samus, this will be difficult for you to accept," the red Pirate commander said, turning towards her. His emerald eyes locked onto hers through the visor. "We have a new... target. Our sensors picked it up on long range a while ago. It's a freighter, and it carries medical supplies and food, plus mechanical components we need to keep this base up and running. Unfortunately, after a thorough scan, we've determined it has high-level clearance locks, accessible only by crew members or high-ranking Federation officials."

"I have that kind of clearance," the information came rushing out of her mouth before she had time to even think of it.

"That's what we were hoping," Epsillius continued. "You see, we need to raid the vessel." Samus's mind once again became grounds for a firefight in between consciousness and conscience:

_Raid a Federation-approved vessel?! Are they insane??_

_They need our help. We owe it to them..._

_What the hell? Who's freaking side are you on?! They're the enemy!_

_Forgive and forget!_

_Well forgiving can just go f—_

Suddenly, the strange force in the back of her mind returned, but this time in a sudden shock. Her mind felt rattled, like it was being torn apart, and then reassembled in a different order. Then, as instantaneous as it happened, it was over, and her mind was made up. She was going to help them.

"I'll help. I can get you onto that ship, and if it's standard design, I can find all the cargo, including the hidden areas." Samus could hardly believe what she was saying, but it felt like the right thing to do. But her mind had changed so suddenly...

"Good to hear!" Epsillius said emphatically, placing his metal claw on her shoulder. She tried to tense, but her muscles didn't follow her brain's lead. In fact, they relaxed. She was sure it was nothing, but she was beginning to feel... comfortable around the Pirates. And she could feel their fear slowly draining away, as one getting used to a new roommate.

"Come with us," a small detachment of Pirate soldiers said, "Follow us to the hangar. Your suit seems pretty necessarily equipped for space, so we won't bother with any special stuff." She obliged and followed them out of Central Core, as Epsillius remained behind to pour over some more data before joining them not too long afterwards.

Dash sat in the pilot's chair of his ship. Occasionally he glanced up from the monitors in his ship to the beautiful setting sun behind that black tumor on the icescape. But his attention was constantly drawn back to the data on the many screens located in his cockpit. Thermal scans, seismographs, x-ray imaging, it all routed through here before being relocated to his massive data terminal.

Somewhere else on the ship, his dinner was being microwaved, and he could hardly wait. He had skipped lunch because of a new rise in data: thermals had indicated that a geothermal power source was being used for primary power, with many small backups in the surrounding area. But he still couldn't tell where in the Phazon Mines most of that power got trucked off to.

Upon the mention of the name "Phazon", his Federation data entries brought up the information on the compound. Apparently, it was the first reason the Pirates came to Tallon IV in the first place. After Samus had destroyed their base on Zebes, three Pirate frigates in orbit had left, two to some undisclosed location, and the third to Tallon IV. They had picked this planet because of a high energy source they found on it, and immediately began mining it. It was a blue substance that was highly radioactive, and the Pirates had used it in animal mutation and manipulation. In fact, they had even created new branches of the Metroid species: Hunter Metroids and Fission Metroids. Hunters were more mature that infants, yet they were not evolved, and Fission Metroids were a combination of two specifically-engineered Metroids. The substance was also known to induce "Phazon Madness", psychosis brought on by overexposure to the deadly blue compound. Records also indicated a red variety that was even more radioactive, but the Pirates had never gotten their hands on it. After Samus destroyed the source of Phazon on Tallon IV (the source remained unidentified), the Pirates left quickly and continued their operations on planet Aether, but that was a completely different entry.

The data continued to scroll past, and Dash yawned, stretched, and then allowed himself another glance outside. But this time, he was greeted by the sight of three ships: one a troop carrier and the other two were Pirate space fighters. Immediately he began scanning them. The fighters were standard, single-person craft, but the troop carrier had ten Pirates on board... no wait, nine Pirates and a... human? He scanned the people in the carrier, noting that eight of them were Tallonian, one Zebesian, and then the human...

He gasped as the data came in. Vitals, DNA, physical stature, it all pointed to one person: the human was Samus Aran!


	9. Chapter 8: Procuring the Resources

Chapter 8: Procuring the Resources

Jack sat upright in the pilot's seat of the freighter. He had jet black hair underneath a small headset, and over that a grayish cap. He wore a gray jumpsuit with symmetrical, diagonal lines crossing the front. At 27 years of age, he had a very well-toned body. His hands moved with grace across the controls as he checked pressure in the cargo hold and maintained their current speed.

"Passing Tallon IV," he spoke for the benefit of the black box. Then he turned to his co-pilot and said, "Hey, you always wanted to see this planet, right?"

"Yeah!" Replied Michael, two years younger than Jack. He had dark blue hair, and looked much more lean than his companion, but the two got along very well. "I've always wanted to see that crater from space..."

Jack smiled. "Then look out your window and take a peek." Michael nodded and looked out the window. Tallon IV's surface curved inward at the impact point, and even from way up here he could see the stress marks that scarred the crust. The surface was yellowish, a stark contrast to the blue atmosphere lines that crossed the planet.

Suddenly, something caught his attention. "Hey, Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"What's that?" He pointed out to the planet. It looked like three rapidly moving black dots, one bigger than the others. They were only visible against the contrast of the planet behind them.

"What's what?" Jack asked, peering out the window just as they moved from sight. "I don't see anything."

"It's... nothing," Michael stuttered. "I guess my eyes were playing tricks on me."

Samus Aran sat in a crowded Pirate troop carrier, along with the nine other Pirates that had opted for this mission. One was Epsillius, the red Zebesian Space Pirate. He was still wrapped in that Chozo cloak, but he seemed to be meditating. Through a small tear in the fabric she could see the glint of his metal claw. Around them sat eight Tallonian Pirates, each outfitted with the standard Galvanic Accelerator Cannons and scythe weapons. The carrier was made to accommodate many more troops, but they had also stuffed several hover carts in there to help move the cargo.

The pilot called back from the front of the ship. "Alright, we're preparing for docking. Get ready to invade." The whine of the Pirate's cannons being charged filled the ship, and Samus herself got ready for combat. Slowly but surely she had been learning to operate like a Pirate: if it's delicate, be careful. If not, rush in guns blazing.

A clank resounded through the ship as it docked with the freighter. Everyone stood up and moved to the airlock. Samus was moved up to fourth place in the line, with Epsillius at the front, two Pirates after him, then the six Pirates behind Samus. Codes flashed across the small panel, and the doors slid aside as the right code was found. Epsillius moved through quickly and gracefully, the only sound being the _click_ing of his feet on the metal. He looked around the darkened room: one of three connecting rooms between the cockpit and the cargo bay. In fact, it was the middle one. He waved the rest of the Pirates through, who weren't nearly as quiet as Epsillius. They clanked through, their guns at the ready. Samus came into the room and checked it out. It was a boxish room, devoid of anything but a few supply crates. A ladder on the right side of the far wall went up into the crew quarters, and a small data access terminal illuminated the dark room. That terminal would be linked to the mainframe in the first connecting room. In the middle of the far wall was another air lock.

After the room was deemed clear, Epsillius began talking to the Pirates. "Alright, here's how this is going to happen: I will take two Pirates to the cockpit. I want two more to head up to the crew's quarters and neutralize anybody you find. Samus, take the remaining four and secure the cargo."

The Pirates nodded and fell into groups. Two fell behind Epsillius as he crossed into the Mainframe Room, two more moved up the ladder, and the four left behind Samus followed her into the third connecting room: the Security Station.

A moment passed after the room was emptied, and the opposite airlock hissed open. There was a ship on the other side, but there didn't seem to be. There was just a wavy illusion behind the door, and other than that you could see clearly out into space. The room remained quiet, but every now and again, one would be able to see purple electricity dance in the empty air. The data terminal was accessed by some unseen force, a download occurred, and finally, a deletion of all the files. The door to the first connecting room opened, and there were loud explosions as the mainframe was destroyed. A moment later, the opposite airlock shut, and it was quiet once more.

Samus and the four Pirates burst into the security station. One guard sat facing a row of monitors that showed security cameras. All were snowy and hissing as the guard cussed at them repeatedly.

As soon as he heard them come in, he turned around with a shocked look on his face, just before two Galvanic Accelerator Cannon blasts struck him in the chest. He toppled over onto the console, barely alive. His last act was to hit the alarm button, just before another shot from a Pirate struck his skull, ending his meager existence.

"Always go for the head," Samus said to the Pirates around her, and they nodded in response. She couldn't figure out why she gave them pointers, but she just felt like she should. After all, they were her hosts now, and she had to help them out.

She crossed to the terminal and shut off the alarm siren, but the lights continued to flash red. She shrugged and crossed into the main cargo bay with the four Pirates in tow.

As soon as they moved into the room though, they were bombarded by blasts originating from two defense turrets, two security guards in full body armor, and one security robot. One Pirate crumpled to the floor, gaping holes in his torso and head. Another dropped, clutching its side in agony. Only Samus and two more of the Pirates ducked down in time, but not without getting grazed by a few shots. Samus noted that the turrets and robot seemed to focus on the Pirates, but the human guards seemed confused. She decided to take advantage of it.

She popped up from behind her cover of a few boxes and pointed her Power Beam at one of the guards.

"Holy shit!" said the current target. "It's Samus Aran! Hold your fire, man!" That's when she squeezed the discharge nodes and let fly three consecutive beams. All three impacted, two in the head and one in the gut. The guard fell to the floor, dead.

"Shit!" The other one shouted and brought his rifle to bear on Samus, but she had already unleashed a powerful Plasma Beam at him. It burned straight through his armor, body, and back out the other side.

At first, Samus was shocked. She had killed a Federation Officer! She had ended the lives of a fair number of humans, but never a Fed.

And she... _liked_ it.

Suddenly, the robot retargeted. It now identified Samus as a threat, and began to open fire. She switched over to the Gatling Gun and let loose, emptying half of her ammo into the robot. The rounds shred its armor and gutted it, the smoking corpse falling to the floor as oil trickled out the many bullet wounds. She turned her gaze back towards her three remaining Pirates, and noted how the two that could stand had successfully eliminated the turrets. She nodded in approval.

"Let's get one of those carts in here," she said, "And begin clearing out these boxes."

"What the hell?" Jack said as a warning flashed on the main view screen. "An unauthorized airlock entry?" He flipped a couple of switches and hit a button, then waited.

Nothing.

"Odd," Michael said, "The wiring has been disabled. An EMP, from what I can tell. I'm going to go back there and..." He didn't finish the sentence. Suddenly, the door to the cockpit slid open with a hiss, and Epsillius and two Space Pirates stormed in. The two Tallonian Pirates opened fire; one caught Jack in the back of the head, and the other shot Michael in the stomach. Jack died instantly, not knowing what happened. Michael collapsed to the floor, the pain overwhelming him.

Epsillius looked down at him, cocking his head to one side. The co-pilot struggled to look up, but the red Pirate kicked him in the face. "We're done here," the Pirate commander said. "Let's go help clear out the cargo bay." As they turned around and left the room, Epsillius fired a Super Missile into the cockpit. The projectile slipped through the shutting door, and a loud explosion preceded a deathly silence.

The young pilots' lives were no more.

As the last of the cargo was unloaded from the freighter to the (now rather cramped) Pirate personnel carrier, Dash further explored the readings from the base. It all made sense to the bounty hunter now: that wasn't just Samus' suit energy he detected throughout his entire stake-out; it was Samus herself! What could he say? What could he do? I mean, it was alright to trash Samus when he thought she was dead, but now that she's alive... he dispersed the thoughts from his mind. He'd just have to suck it up and accept his duty: to remain the best bounty hunter alive, no matter the cost.

He turned on the com and decided to radio command.

While all the commotion happened in orbit and on the planet, a small rift opened up within the confines of the nearby asteroid field. The rift grew in size, though it was almost impossible to see. It was void-on-void: undetectable by the naked eye.

However, from seemingly out of nowhere to that naked eye, a massive ship emerged. The front was wide and at an incline, and as it came out it shattered the asteroids blocking its slow but steady path. Behind it emerged a couple of smaller ships resembling gunboats that were torn down to their key components. A third ship, bigger than the gunboats but smaller than the cruiser moved through the rift followed by countless single-person craft.

Within the cruiser, in a giant and darkened room, a single Pirate scurried into the blackness, clutching a data pad in its small claws. His breath came in short gasps, nervousness creeping into his mind and affecting his movements. He clumsily stumbled over a misplaced rock. His eyes darted around in the dark before speaking up:

"L-Lord Kraid," he stuttered, "W-We huh-have arrived."

Three glowing crimson globules opened from the darkness, and a booming voice spoke out.

"Excellent..."


	10. Chapter 9: Tick, tock, said the clock

Chapter 9: "Tick, tock," said the clock...

It was a nice, quiet night inside the Radon Pirate's base in the Phendrana Drifts region. After the recent raid with the ship, the Pirates and their "guest" had been drinking and eating till their hearts were content. An initiation rite had even occurred, when Epsillius had given Samus Aran another upgrade made by the Science Team: a blade almost exactly like that of the Tallonian Pirates'. She had accepted it, which surprised most of the pirates. That meant she was one of their own.

Soon after, the party died down, and the drunk and exhausted Raid Team went to their quarters for a well-earned rest, and the drunk and exhausted personnel that made up the night shift moved lazily to their work stations.

And so it was that N'Ricaa found himself slumping in his chair before a set of computer terminals. His eyes idly swept across the screens, tracking the movement of Shegoths outside the base. They hadn't made any recent move to enter, though they rarely did anymore. High-power plasma turrets had been installed at the cargo entrances to the base, the only ways in that were big enough for the massive creatures to fit through. They tried to squeeze in and BAM! They were toast in a matter of seconds.

He wasn't the only one in the Central Command spire. A few more on night duty dotted the several levels that extended upwards. Occasionally, a patrol would pass by, but they weren't paying any attention. They were busy laughing and telling stories. He glanced at them, smiled at any jokes he could hear, and then looked back at the screen.

_BLIP!_

****What the hell?

_BLIP!_

N'Ricaa rubbed at his eyes with the edge of a claw, then stared harder at the screen. His training told him what that sound was: a proximity alarm, but of something mechanical, not biological. But he didn't believe it. Nothing ever landed on this planet. A few days ago, he picked something up, but it was so small, and it disappeared not a second after it was detected. He had suspected the system was on the fritz.

But just yesterday, they ran a check and cleaned out the system. And this reading was too strong to be just a glitch.

Reaching out, he tapped a button and pulled a microphone from the console before him. "Attention, attention," he spoke into it, his voice repeating back to him with a 2-second delay. "All essential Command personnel please report to station Zero-Zero-Three in Central Command spire. I repeat, all essential Command Personnel to CC Station 3." He replaced the microphone, automatically turning off the intercom, and began scanning not only the mechanical source, but their own defenses as well.

After all, the computer reported the main body of the Pirates had just landed on the surface. And that meant problems for all.

All the ships entered the atmosphere and, following Kraid's direction, landed in a large, open space outside of an enclosing mountain range. First, the massive ship touched down, followed by the others in succession of size, the last to come down being the individual fighters.

The hatches on all of them opened simultaneously as Ridley stepped forward. Zebesian Space Pirates poured out and began setting up a base camp. They trucked out parts of buildings and attached them with flimsy halls made on-site, all the while Ridley watched. Finally, Kraid came forth from the massive ship and approached Ridley, whom he dwarfed by a good 10 meters.

"Ah, Brother Ridley," Kraid bellowed merrily to his comrade. "How goes things? I haven't seen or heard of you since the Old Brain bought it."

"Brother Kraid," Ridley responded in his trademark sly voice, "It is improper to speak of the Great Mother in such a manner, especially since we _are_ trying to revive her."

"Yes, yes," the massive lizard waved his hand to dismiss the issue, "I'm aware of our efforts." His smile disappeared as he looked to the mountains. Standing on his tip-toes (Ridley was still unsure of how he could do that while his feet supported such a great amount of girth), Kraid could see the top of the central spire. "Is that where our enemy lies?"

"Yes," Ridley spat, "this is where the bastard Renegades have made their home. Radon Pirates... hah!" He spat again, striking a passing Pirate with his loogie. The creature immediately burst into flame and began running around, screaming, before diving into a snow bank for relief.

"I don't recall ever hearing of this base in the data logs on the Phazon operations from the old Command logs," Kraid said.

"You wouldn't have; it was only partly completed before the Hunter appeared and began tearing our forces apart while unaided." Ridley looked beyond the mountains, observing the base from afar. "I still cannot believe the fierce skill of that woman..."

Kraid's eyes opened wide. "She's a... a woman?!"

Ridley decided an eye-roll would be appropriate. "Yes, fool, she is a woman. I remember you being smarter before you died again."

"How long has she been like that?"

The Space Dragon face-palmed. _Dumb ass..._ he thought. He released his face, collected himself, and then turned to Kraid.

"We have much to discuss about tactics," Ridley said. He looked at the mob of Pirates assembling a makeshift base at the base of the mountain. "How soon can we expect another division?"

Now it was Kraid's turn to face-palm. "Never," he said meekly, "This is all that's left."

"This is ALL?!" Ridley roared. "How can we be so few?"

"These damn Radon Pirates have recruited 88 of our Pirates. Apparently, these are the only ones still sympathetic to our cause. We had three times this amount, but the Federation caught us by surprise in the Hector system. We were outnumbered and outgunned." He looked out from behind his hand. "But I could swear that they'd have a bigger base if they had so great a following..."

"This is only a small division..." Ridley muttered.

"What?!"

"I lied too!" The Space Dragon snapped back at his "brother".

"Then we _do_ have much to discuss," Kraid said.

Epsillius took only one look at the monitor before allowing himself to begin swearing up and down. It was in his native language, but some of the Tallonian Pirate command crew that had assembled knew enough of that particular tongue to keep quiet. The red commander began to pace back and forth, muttering curses under his breath. For a minute, he grew quiet, stopped pacing, and became contemplative.

Finally, he looked up, a flash of ingenuity crossing his eyes. "This won't be easy," he said aloud, "But I have an idea. The remainders of the Brain Loyalists are probably all here. This operation of theirs is a dead or alive: they either win this and regain a foothold, or the cause dies on the battlefield. We just need to fend them off, and we will win this for sure."

"B-But Epsillius," one of the command crew stammered, "What about Kraid and Ridley? The Great Eater and the Space Dragon of Death?" He was shaken to his very soul: he remembered vividly the tenacity and ferociousness of Meta-Ridley when he still part of the Pirate main forces. He had also heard of Kraid, but those that saw him were almost always killed during their visit, so a description with a lot of detail was hard to come across.

"That's true..." Epsillius muttered, "They wont' be taken out easily. And I doubt that Samus could fight them without learning the truth." He grew silent for another moment, then spoke up once more. "We'll call for reinforcements. A bombardment from space on Kraid and Ridley. Both are excellent warriors, but neither can withstand that. But to pull it off, we'll need probably a quarter of the fleet."

He turned to N'Ricaa, who maintained his post before the monitor. "Send the call for help. Tell them that this will be the final battle, and that the Loyalists will fall." The young Pirate nodded and turned to the monitor and began readying the transmission. "Oh," the red warrior added, "Send for Samus. I'll need to send her on a diversionary mission."

Samus yawned under her helmet, and futilely tried to rub sleep from her eyes with her visor in the way. It was obscenely early, and she had just drunk about five bottles of Pirate ale. She could handle the alcohol; she wasn't the best bounty hunter in the galaxy just for bounties. She was well skilled in other things as well, especially when it came to drinking.

_Come to think of it_, she thought numbly, _I think that was the first time I've taken my helmet off around the Pirates..._

"Samus!" Epsillius yelled, "Are you paying attention?"

"Yes," Samus replied, straightening up.

"Good," the red Pirate said, "then I'll continue." He pointed his mechanical claw at the large screen in front of her. It reminded her of the terminals back on the B.S.L. station, though much more massive. "We have reason to believe that the Torizo are using up the supplies at the old crash site." He tapped on the location of the screen which showed the old frigate, the one Samus was responsible for bringing down during her previous mission here.

Epsillius turned to face Samus. "You are to go to the site, eliminate all Torizo, and open up the old maintenance access ways. We've already dug a tunnel leading up to them, but we couldn't risk entering without knowing it was secure. You'll be assigned two Plasma Troopers to assist you in removing the Torizo threat. Any questions?"

Samus would have scratched her head if she could get to it through the helmet. Something didn't add up in what Epsillius had told her. He never mentioned a tunnel before, and why would the Torizo use up supplies?

Instead of asking, she just shrugged. After all, Epsillius hadn't steered her wrong, and she felt he never will.

When Samus shook her head, Epsillius smiled. "Good. Now get on your way, we have a schedule to keep." Samus nodded, caught herself when she was about to salute, and made her way out of Central Command, the two Plasma Troopers following close behind. But once again, she felt in the back of her mind that all was not well...

Dash crouched outside his ship parked up on the ledge of the mountains. He was wearing a snug heavy coat, hat, pants, and scarf to protect him from the cold. He peered through a pair of binoculars, and pushed up the zoom. He was observing the expeditionary force the main Pirate body had sent, except...

Well, why did they send Ridley and Kraid along for just a small base takeover? It didn't make any sense. They had been rumored to have been focusing on Mother Brain's third revival, so why come all the way out here for something that mere grunts could handle? Was it more important than it seemed?

The bounty hunter mumbled to himself. He hated being out of the loop. He was about to get back inside his nice, safe ship when his binocs reported an energy surge. He analyzed it with their internal scanner, and determined it was yet another charge up en route to the Phazon Mines. What were they keeping down there?

Grumbling, the crimson-haired hunter trudged up the ramp into the belly of his ship, the slope shutting with a hiss behind him.

God, he hated being out of the loop.

Epsillius had said that taking her ship to the crash site was a bad idea, and she had faithfully followed his advice. He said that the tunnel to the access ways was useless until the access ways were open. Despite her powerful weapons which could probably open the hatches from either side, she again agreed. So now, she found herself taking a Pirate elevator to a different portion of the Phendrana Drifts, to then get access to the lush forests that would then lead her to the site.

In retrospect, her agreement had made no sense, but there was that voice, that sensitive and lovely voice that just told her to go along with it. It was quite compelling.

Contrasting that wonderful voice were the two Plasma Troopers that accompanied her. They never spoke, and always seemed to be on edge. Though Samus felt it wasn't about being around her; it seemed to be something far away that was agitating them. She had attempted conversation twice before on the long elevator ride, but to no avail. They remained silent, almost monolithic in their quiet states.

Finally, a resounding clang signaled that they had arrived. Samus looked around, recognizing the area from her last trudge through this section. She had spent so long on Tallon IV, making sure all the Metroids and Pirates were dead. Kind of ironic that she'd return after complete genocide of the former, and as a comrade of the latter.

Stepping off the elevator, she found herself strangely tense. The memory of what exactly happened here came rushing back: she had just arrived on the elevator when she was attacked by a Pirate patrol. After a long, drawn-out firefight, the last one was dead. Now, in the darkened room, the glowing red designs on the armor of the Plasma Troopers looked like big targets.

_NO!_ cried out that voice in her head. Suddenly, that feeling of her brain being taken apart like a puzzle returned, and less than a nanosecond later it came back together, but in the wrong order. But she never realized this. Her mind felt changed, but she relaxed once more. In the presence of the Troopers, she suddenly felt quite safe.

They continued through the old winding corridors of the headquarters. Whenever they entered a room with stasis tubes and monitors, she was always wary for floating organisms that could suck her life force right out of her. But, to her delight, they were empty. She had previously been suspecting the Pirates of trying to create new Metroids, or even worse: the X. Samus shivered at the thought.

Finally, they emerged into a small valley, covered in vivid white snow. As soon as they stepped from the irising door hatch, a fully grown Shegoth jumped up from its hiding place in the snow. The razor sharp icicles that grew out from its back glowed and crackled with a purple energy. The six eyes that adorned its face stared menacingly at the trio and its mouth opened up, revealing rows upon rows of long, impossibly sharp teeth. It lunged to get a mouthful of flesh, but instead received a mouthful of concentrated plasma. Three beams of crimson light erupted from three separate gun barrels and struck the Shegoth with unerring accuracy. It roared and whined before finally being incinerated into ashes that now decorated the snow. The mournful cry of baby Shegoths were heard as they scampered away from the scene of their mother's death. Samus almost felt sorry for them, remembering her own mother's obliteration.

She quickly banished the thought from her mind. The bounty hunter didn't have the time, or the want, to reminisce about such painful memories.

It took a long time for them to reach another elevator, then another long wait for them to get to the lush jungles of Tallon IV. Though, when she emerged, she found they weren't so lush anymore.

The ground was scorched, burnt, and simply wiped out of existence in many spots. No grass survived, replaced by patches of rough sand. Trees were either burnt black, their vines shriveled and their flowers wilted, or simply burnt down to the stumps, occasionally further. At first, Samus was shocked by all the destruction. Then she remembered: crashing a large, floating temple into a pit of active Phazon would have some drawbacks to the environment.

But this looked less like Phazon-induced destruction, and more like laser scoring.

"When we first arrived," one of the Plasma Troopers spoke up at last, "We had to raze the forest area, to ensure that no Phazon or Phazon-maddened creatures survived. Especially the Great Destroyer." Samus was unsure whether or not that last comment was directed at her or Metroid Prime. After all, Epsillius had called her by that exact name when they first met in person.

The rest of the trip was made in silence. Samus was awed and deeply saddened by the amount of destruction that she had caused, whether it was directly or indirectly. She tried to avoid thinking of the Chozo Ruins that were probably affected too. Despite her experience with blowing things up, it pained her to think of wiping out the last ruins of a once spectacular race, since to her knowledge, the only other planets with Chozo ruins on them were Zebes and SR388. And she had destroyed them.

Finally, after crossing the familiar clearing in which she had landed her old ship so long ago, they found the wreckage of the old frigate. The wreck had hardly changed: maybe it was scorched a little more, a few holes in its hull here and there, but it was the landscape that suffered the most. The lake that used to separate Samus from the ship had been completely evaporated, along with any life that used to occupy it. The vines that had criss-crossed from tree to tree were only ashes, and said trees only memory. All in all, this place was more like a desert now.

The three crossed through the dry lake bed, making their way over rocks and pits. After a few minutes, they climbed up the steep incline that led to the front of the ship. As they reached the only entrance that was accessible from this side, one of the Plasma Troopers reached out with his scythe and punched in a nine-digit security code. The door irised open, and the darkness of the Pirate space platform seemed to reach out and grab them...


	11. Chapter 10: The Torizo

Chapter 10: The Torizo

The door irised open, and the darkness of the Pirate space platform seemed to reach out and grab them…

Wait a minute. It _did_ reach out and grab them.

Two large, clawed hands reached out, one grabbing Samus Aran and a Plasma Trooper, the other swatting the remaining Trooper back into the former lake. Samus and the Trooper struggled to free themselves from the talons that entrapped them, but just as they were about to get free, the other hand clamped down on the other side of them, holding them steady. Then they were pulled back into the ship, clutching their cargo.

It was dark, and Samus could barely see out between the massive fingers that held her. They weren't too big, not Godzilla sized, but still big enough to wrap around her torso and grasp her tightly. Her legs were sticking out the bottom, and she made a futile attempt to kick the claws, but to no avail.

"Well, shit," she muttered. She could hear the muffled grunts of the Plasma Trooper held right next to her, but couldn't tell if he was agreeing or trying to find his own way to get loose. She pouted. Why did this happen to her?

The two were carried for another five minutes before the being holding them stopped. Simultaneously realizing the opportunity, Samus and her companion started trying to worm their way out of the creature's grasp. After trying to fire her gun, the bounty hunter found that the being had wisely covered the barrel of her weapon with its own palm, which seemed nigh-impervious to her attacks. From what she could hear, her comrade was having the same success she was.

Suddenly, she felt a burst of motion, and suddenly the two were let go. Samus didn't have time to think, act, or even look at her surroundings before she collided with a wall, and dropped thirty feet to a metal floor below. An instant later, the Plasma Trooper landed next to her with a resounding clang.

"Ugh…" was all she was able to get to come out of her mouth. The pain was intense. A feeling of relief came over her as the suit rushed to repair internal damage to her. Finally, she felt she had the strength to stand. She pulled herself up on wobbly legs that soon stabilized. She gave the Plasma Trooper a hand, helping him up. Then she surveyed the room.

It was cylindrical, not unlike the Command Spire back at the Radon Pirates' base, but it ended it a roof, not a peak. All around her were metal platforms, walls, and grates. In the middle of the floor was a pit that ended not too far down. Suddenly she recognized the area: it was where she fought that parasite queen when she first arrived, when the frigate was still in space. So what had tossed them in here…?

The answer came rather forcefully. A shape dropped from above and landed on two feet on the floor. It was a little over twice Samus's height, and it had a curved beak. Two large, round eyes positioned on the sides of its head glowed blue and seemed to stare at everything at once. It was lean but looked muscular, with arms that ended in taloned hands just below its waist, and two long, regal legs. At the edges, a bluish-white glow emanated from it, and Samus recognized it instantly: a Torizo.

But this one looked much different, more like…

"Like a Chozo Ghost!" the bounty hunter said aloud.

The Torizo turned its head and looked directly at Samus. She was awestruck: back on Zebes, when she came across these guys she would immediately start fighting. However, this time, she was off her guard, and completely dazed by the form that stood before her.

The claw of the bird-like being came across her face swiftly and with amazing accuracy. Samus didn't have enough time to feel the pain of the swipe before crashing into the wall again. When she looked up, there were droplets of blood on her visor, and the Plasma Trooper was trying in vain to engage and destroy the Torizo. His plasma attacks bounced harmlessly off the stone-like skin of the Torizo, and his blade hardly made a mark on it. But one shot got lucky, and struck the massive creature in the eye. It screamed and recoiled, then refocused on the Trooper.

Samus had to give credit to the Pirate: he was brave and fearless. He swiped at the Torizo's eye, hitting it once or twice. Finally, the Torizo decided it had had enough. It brought its hands in close proximity to each other, keeping them vertical. Samus watched in morbid fascination as ghostly white energy began to condense between its palms. Recognizing the attack as the energy beam generated by Chozo Ghosts, the bounty hunter moved to try and help the Trooper, but couldn't reach him in time. The deadly attacked was unleashed upon the unsuspecting Pirate, the beam being ten times more powerful and direct than what Samus had seen before, and when the light faded and the spots cleared from her vision, the Pirate was gone, and only the Torizo stood there, bathed in the orange lighting generated by what remained of the frigate's power grid.

Samus felt slightly angry that the Plasma Trooper was dead. Then she began to feel a sensation in the back of her skull, and that anger quickly grew into a boundless rage that expanded to every corner of her consciousness. Leaping from her position, she flipped over its head and readied her Gatling Gun. She pointed it at the monster's back as she landed, and touched the firing contacts within her beam cannon. The four barrels rotated and emptied round after round into its back. The projectiles merely pinged off with absolutely no effect. Before it could turn around, she rolled up into her Morph Ball and rolled towards it, bouncing up to its back when she got close enough. She didn't adhere to the rocky skin, what with being devoid of her Spider Ball, but she used the momentum to roll up its back, placing a bomb as she went. Her velocity began to die down as she reached the neck, so instead of trying to get up the incline to the top of its head, she rotated around the base of the creature's skull, laying her remaining three bombs. Then she jumped off, unfurled, and turned to see the Morph Ball bombs detonate with little effect. At most, it got the Torizo annoyed.

Samus was beginning to feel peeved as well.

She reactivated her Power Beam and started unloading the energy at the creature. Knowing that she'd never run out of ammo, she circled it, peppering it with her blaster shots. One or two got in the eyes again, and it screeched in discomfort, but it continued to withstand the punishment the huntress handed out.

Finally, frustrated with the endurance of the beast, Samus activated her missile launcher, switched it to Super, and fired two missiles directly at its head. The first impacted the creatures eye, and it let out a horrifying screech of true pain. The second struck it in the back of the skull, blowing the back of his head off. It wasn't too traumatic; Torizo flesh was made of rock, as their existence in the recent centuries had been confined to haunting and possessing statues. But it was enough to kill the great monstrosity.

The white hot rage in her body calmed down as her mind cleared. She shook her head to dispel the remaining feelings of emotion, and became focused on the mission. She could not allow her mind to wander.

**break**

Samus ran through the remains of the frigate. She had only so far found indigenous creatures littering the frigate, and the only ones she bothered attacking were the ones infected by Phazon.

Finally, she emerged into a large area that she recognized. Well, at least, she thought she recognized it. The bounty hunter had noticed that, when moving through the crash site, all the water inside was gone. Regardless, this area had three massive tubes in it, two of which were smashed open. A walkway ran around the outside of the room, allowing access to now-darkened terminals. The remaining tank, situated about north-north-west from Samus, was frosted over, with cold air running off of it. Switching to her thermal visor, she tried to see if anything was inside. However, there were no heat readings. Even if there was, then it was being masked by all the cold around it.

Knowing what was coming, she carefully approached the container. When she got within two meters of it, there was movement within it. She raised her arm cannon, switched to Power Beam, and began charging. A resounding _crack_ echoed throughout the room as a fracture ran through the length of the tube. Samus made sure she had a lock on the creature as it burst forth from the glass. It was exactly like the Torizo she had previously battled.

It seemed faster, though, as her charged shot was released towards the giant but never connected. It arced slightly, due to the minor homing capabilities, but it merely struck the far wall, burning through metal and defunct circuitry before "popping", and wiping out a small radius of equipment from where it detonated.

The Torizo, however, didn't realize how constrained in proportion the room was, and crashed right into the wall as it moved away. Internally cursing at itself while a passive expression remained literally etched in stone on his face, he whirled around. The battle would have to be fought between firepower, but the Torizo knew he'd win. The warlike Torizo had only faced defeat at the hands of his "pacifist" brothers, whom designed the suit this creature was wearing. He would have smiled if he could.

However, a missile struck him in his eye just then, and he cried out in pain. He had been distracted by his own hubris!

Samus reloaded her missile launcher, aimed, and fired again, hitting its other eye. Another scream erupted from the giant's throat, its mouth opening up slightly to allow the sound to pass. As her gun automatically loaded another missile, the Torizo moved quickly to the side, and fired a low-power beam at Samus. Caught half-way in the beam, she could only absorb the injury and retarget, letting loose another missile. It connected, but not in the desired area. Instead, the Torizo raised its hand and blocked the incoming explosive. It detonated harmlessly on his palm.

Samus moved quickly as well, rolling into the Morph Ball and racing between his legs. On the other side, she unfurled and let loose with the Wave Beam, knowing perfectly well it would have no effect. However, the Torizo whipped around, and its stone flesh threw it slightly off balance. She rolled back into the Morph Ball, moved to the foot that bore the most weight, and dropped a Power Bomb off at his ankle. It beeped thrice, and then went off, cracking his fragile stone skin and knocking him to the floor. Samus unrolled once more, and then walked over to the fallen behemoth. Its eyes tracked her as she approached, and as she stood right next to its eye. Equipping the Gatling Gun, the bounty hunter leveled her arm cannon at its eye, and fired. The resulting screech was deafening for those unprotected by a helmet, but Samus didn't care. She kept firing until the beast lay still.

"Another one down," she muttered to herself.

She continued through the rest of the ship, finding two large, open rooms and finding two more Torizo. She rid the ruins of their presence in a similar pattern with which she defeated the second one. Finally, as she reached the end of the wreck, a thought dawned on her.

"The lights are glowing brighter down here," she said. "Is there still power running in this section? But how can that be? Who's providing it?" She moved down two more halls before reaching the elevator to the old Phazon Mines.

Inside the elevator room, the lights were bright and active. The elevator in the center of the room hummed with power.

"What the hell?" she said to no one in particular. She approached the device, but just before getting on, the bounty hunter noticed a large hole in the wall to her right. It appeared to be a tunnel of some sort, dug through the earth to get to something. But judging by the way the dirt was arranged around the edges of it, they had dug out of this room, not into it. Her scanner revealed that there were ectoplasm traces around the edges of the tunnel, very similar to that of the Chozo Ghosts.

Realizing it was her best lead, she entered the tunnel, but she did so cautiously. As she continued down the tunnel, she realized that nothing in the tunnel could outdo her, let alone frighten her at all. Some lichen, still bearing trace amounts of Phazon, but she quickly burnt those. A few native creatures that scurried away at the sounds of her footsteps, so that wasn't a cause for alarm to her. The tunnel abruptly ended in a large room, carved and hewn out of the rock and stone. And in the center of that room was a pile of rubble. A short inspection would reveal that the rubble was indeed an outer stone casing, much like the ones the other Torizo in the ruins had been occupying. But the Hunter was too preoccupied staring at what hovered above it.

Floating above the rubble was a magnificent and horrifying sight to behold. A glowing light, in the shape of a Torizo with its legs crossed. Half of the being was engulfed in a red, fiery glow; the other half in a similar yet blue flame. On its back was draped a flowing cape of green flame. It seemed at peace, oblivious to the Hunter's presence. However, as she took another step forward, two yellow orbs that made up its "eyes" flew open.

"Hatchling…" it spoke, pointing a long, clawed finger at her. "Thou hast committed sin beyond sin, the death of innocents in these unholy halls of twisted wreckage and machine. Four brave warriors, not knowing what it was that drove them to their demise, trusting of you. Yet you ally yourself with the one force truly deserving of genocide…"

Samus was speechless. This Torizo seemed to have broken free from its stone prison, but it wasn't anything like the bounty hunter had imagined. Hell, it wasn't even corporeal.

"Even I," it continued, "Now struggle with the madness that swallowed up all our brothers on this planet. A madness you had no part in creating, but one that you once quested to stop. But now, now you fight alongside the very forces that would try to harness it, use it against the entire galaxy? What drives you to do such a thing?"

The creature suddenly stopped speaking. It hovered in silence for a few moments. Those moments were the most intense, suspenseful moments of Samus' life up until then. Finally, it spoke again:

"Your mind is impure, your thoughts and actions now traitor to your every will. You are being controlled, Hatchling. You must be mindful of whom you keep as your ally—" The Torizo was suddenly cut off as a super-heated beam of plasma was fired over her shoulder, past her head and into the hovering entity. In a flash of hellfire it vanished, leaving only spots in Samus' vision.

The bounty hunter whirled around to see the source, arm cannon raised and fully outstretched. The Plasma Trooper, the one who had been knocked aside by the first Torizo, stood there. He was panting heavily, his armor broken and cracked in many places, and some blood oozing here and there. It was obvious it had been quite an ordeal to get up and track down the Hunter.

Before he could make a sound, however, Samus shot him dead in a fit of rage. How! How could that ignorant Pirate destroy such a thing? It was knowledgeable! It was intelligent! It was _wise_, a trait so hard to find in the galaxy nowadays. And it was telling her something important, something relevant.

That voice in the back of her head was screaming now, trying to regain control. But she ignored it. Backtracking through the tunnel, and kicking the Pirate on the way out, she found her way back to the elevator leading down into the Phazon mines. She stood on the edge, weighing her options. Finally deciding, she stepped out onto the elevator, and was about to activate it when a voice crackled over her comm.

"Samus, it's Epsillius," the red Pirate leader said, "Come back immediately. We need your help in fighting a war."


	12. Chapter 11: Pirate vs Pirate

Chapter 11: Pirate vs. Pirate

It didn't take long for Samus Aran to fight her way out of her own blinding rage and back to reality. She sent a confirmation to Epsillius, the Pirate commander, and began to run back through the frigate, completely ignoring the elevator… for now. She reserved that, after she had finished what the lobster-like Pirate wanted her to do, she would return and check it out.

As she rushed back through the twisted metal corridors, she located the access hatch that Epsillius had mentioned in his briefing, and blew it open with a carefully-placed charged power shot. It appeared to be a crawl space, albeit a tight one. She briefly wondered how difficult it would be to crawl through there without using her Morph Ball, but realized it was just pointless thinking. As she got ready to curl up, a transmission flashed up on her visor. It was encoded, text-only, and one-way:

Skiffs en-route to your location. Get to the surface and await evac.

She shrugged, and then resumed her brisk jog through the crashed space platform. The steady clanking of her booted feet on the hard metal floor quickly faded into a soft thump as she stepped outside into the once-jungle-now-desert landscape. She noticed the sun was shining brightly in her eyes, and while her visor automatically dimmed, she still found herself squinting from the hard light. She hadn't realized how much her eyes had adjusted to the dark.

Only a minute later, a fleet of Space Pirate skiffs zoomed in over a cliff edge and approached her. They were very practical vehicles, composed only of a flat surface kept aloft by an anti-grav system. You programmed the desired coordinates, and a simple onboard AI plotted the best route to get there. Then you just enjoyed the ride. It was very useful for shipping cargo. But each skiff had one Pirate, whom all stormed up the lake-bed once their vehicles touched down and entered the wreckage, some whooping and hollering. She guessed they were there for the supplies.

One skiff, however, landed directly in front of her. This had two Pirates, dressed in full combat armor and clutching high-energy rifles. One set of armor looked shiny and new, the other was scuffed from a recent clash.

"Samus," one of the Pirates, the shiny one, spoke, "Hop on. We're going back to base to combat a new Pirate threat." She nodded, not quite understanding. What did they mean, "new Pirate threat"? That was ordinarily something that the Federation said when they had a galaxy-saving job for her. But she regardless stepped onboard, and immediately the craft levitated back up and flew its way back to the Radon Pirates' base.

xXxXxXx

Dash Stardrex was lying prone in the snow, wrapped in warm clothing, with his arms just at the cliff's edge holding a pair of binoculars to his eyes. He peered through them, looking at the massing amount of Zebesian Space Pirates. They chattered and ran around setting up what looked like weapons and armor. Many stood at the front of the lines, motionless except for the occasional nervous twitch. He had watched a lot of historical vids, and knew a last-stand when he saw one.

But he was confused. Weren't these Pirates the invading force, surrounding the enemy on almost all sides, cutting off their supply lines? Though he had noticed a small fleet of skiffs taking off earlier and departing for an unknown location, he regardless considered the ones trapped inside the base to be the ones who should be quivering. Sweeping his gaze over the throngs of Pirates, he noticed a few groups of commandos dotting the crowds. One small group, probably the commanders, seemed to be in conversation with…

With…

His breath caught in his throat as he slowly moved the binoculars up in order to see the entirety of the massive behemoth. It had three red eyes, long and dangerous-looking sharp claws protruding from its fingers, and what appeared to be three clusters of spikes, vertically aligned, that protruded from its belly.

"Kraid…" Dash uttered, his eyes wide and pupils shrunk. He felt perspiration gathering on his brow despite the sub-zero temperatures. He recognized the monster from one of the most infamous holo-vids. During the Space Pirates' first attempt to control the Metroids, the Galactic Federation had attempted a frontal assault against the Space Pirate stronghold on Zebes. The bounty hunter vividly recalled his own father, who had many years ago smiled and waved goodbye to his family as he left to join the Federation Army. Years later, while briefly staying on planet M119, two Federation troopers arrived at Dash's door, and relayed the news of his father's demise at the hands of the Space Pirates. He broke into a Fed compound, stole the holo-recording of the event, and watched in horror as he saw his father and his platoon get wiped out by the behemoth known as Kraid, the Great Eater.

Now, the red-haired bounty hunter found himself reliving that memory, of watching his father die, crushed under the foot of the monster. Quickly regaining his composure, he managed to tear his gaze away, and instead focused on the equipment the Pirates were hauling in. It was definitely siege weaponry, and very little defenses for their makeshift base camp. It was obvious that they didn't plan on staying long.

Picking himself up, Dash brushed off the snow, turned on his heel, and strode back up the ramp into his ship. He knew it wouldn't be long before the offensive started, and he had to be ready when it did. In the distraction, he knew he could steal into the Space Pirate base, set the self-destruct, and "liberate" Samus' ship for a clean getaway to fame and glory. He found himself smiling.

_I'll make you proud, dad._

xXxXxXx

Samus' breaths were coming in short, the skiff seeming to reel beneath her. She stared out over the fields of snow at the gathering Pirate mass, and found something akin to a bloodlust growing within her. But it didn't extend to the Pirates immediately around her, rather just to the Zebesians on the horizon. Her fingers twitched, almost depressing the firing contacts within her beam cannon. She stayed her hand, however, contenting herself that she'd get plenty of time to personally waste a great deal of them.

"Hang tight," one of the Pirates on the skiff grumbled as the aircraft began to pass over the enemy troops. Scattered ground fire lanced upwards, trying to catch the vehicle. One or two shots struck the craft, but it was largely unaffected and successfully passed over the throng of Pirates.

Slowing to a stop in a high-up hangar on the base, Samus hopped off and was personally greeted by Epsillius. His silver Chozo cloak with the green emblem that meant "Warrior" looked… cleaner than before. But she couldn't dwell on that. She was about to say something when Epsillius suddenly broke in:

"They just recently arrived and quickly set up base here," the crimson commander started. "I didn't know how you'd react, and we desperately needed supplies in order to help us in the fight, so I sent you out on that mission before they became too big of a presence." Samus mulled it over in her head, realizing that it was an acceptable reason. Her… unpredictability when it came to Space Pirates had sometimes gotten her in over her head, especially when it came to the Zebesian variety. But before she could say anything, Epsillius continued.

"We've already begun setting up defenses," he went on, "And the entire base has been put on full alert. We have several turrets online, more coming online after they finish the warm-up cycle. There are riflemen in the open-air hallways with long-range enhancements for when they get just a little closer. We only have one squadron of fighters, but they're already scrambled to provide air support."

Suddenly, it was like someone flipped a switch in Samus' mind. This wasn't one of her personal conflicts, where she single-handedly faced down the enemy and defeated them in combat. This was a full-scale military operation. "How many ground troops do we have?" She inquired, her mind already racing to try and gain a strategic advantage over the enemy.

Epsillius winced at the question. "Two platoons, that's all."

She almost did a double-take at the Pirate commander, and then remembered that they were alone on the planet. "Alright… what about reinforcements?"

"Theirs or ours?"

"Whichever. I don't care."

"We're on our own. We might be able to get out a transmission, but aside from those of us here, the rest of the Radon Pirates fit comfortably in a single battlecruiser. We could call for some help, but I doubt we'd be answered. As for them… they've got the entire Pirate military at their disposal. Their reinforcements could come at any time."

Swearing quietly behind her visor, the bounty hunter began to weigh her options. "We'll have to fight defensively," she said, "As soon as each turret warms up, I want it firing at the enemy. Don't give them any maneuvering room: pepper them constantly. Riflemen should be on standby until their troops get in range, and when they do, remind them to always aim for the head." Epsillius nodded as the Hunter continued: "Get one platoon ready, heavily-armed and armored, to meet them on the field. Specialized troopers, skiffs, flyers, whatever you have has to be out there. Get them to set up a definite perimeter; I don't care if you have to dig trenches. Distribute the second platoon throughout the base as defense just in case they break through the perimeter and invade. Minimum of two Pirates per intersection."

Epsillius clicked his claws together rapidly, the Pirate equivalent of clapping. "Excellent! I'll relay that to Central Command. They have us surrounded on almost all sides, so I have a favor to ask of you, Samus."

For some reason, the bounty hunter felt pleased with herself. She was doing so well that her commander wanted a favor… wait, that wasn't right. The voice in the back of her head returned, screaming almost silently that something was deeply, irrevocably wrong. She could sense distrust, revulsion… her head felt polluted, like someone was violating her mind. Then there was a ripping sensation, as she suddenly felt her perspective change. The voice was silenced, she forgot about it, and her attention was returned to the conversation she was having with Epsillius.

"Samus, are you paying attention?" the red Pirate asked. Samus nodded, but didn't say anything. "Good. I want you to take control of half the base and command them. You seem to be a brilliant strategist, so consider this a… promotion, I guess you would call it. A promotion to general."

Pride swelled within her. Despite knowing that it was wrong, that he wasn't her CO… she saluted. Inside, she was shocked and somewhat disgusted with the motion, but she couldn't help it. Even Epsillius seemed surprised, but he smiled and returned the salute. "I'll take the northern front," he said, "You may have the southern."

She nodded again, and Epsillius turned and strode away. Samus stood there for a second, contemplating her own motives, but shook her head as if to dispel a curse. She turned on her heel and walked towards the south.

It was war, and her troops had to be ready.

xXxXxXx

Ridley and Kraid stood far back from the front lines and surveyed their troops, making a ring hundreds of rows wide around the renegade base. The Space Dragon breathed in the frigid air and sighed out a cloud of mist and a little smoke. He was almost confident that they could win… but if Samus was in there, she would be a very difficult obstacle to overcome. He watched as the Tallonian Pirates who had defected used super-heated lasers to carve a series of trenches in the ground, and heard the almost-inaudible sound of the turrets in the base coming online.

Closing his eyes briefly, he reached out with his mind, found one in particular, gave it a quick probe, and then withdrew. Opening his eyes, he spoke to his brother-in-arms sitting next to him: "Brother Kraid, Samus is assisting with their tactics."

"So?" grunted the colossal lizard, who was too busy admiring his own troops to care about what the enemy was doing. "She's not much of a strategist. It's that red Zebesian leading that motley lot we have to worry about."

Ridley shook his draconic head. "She's an excellent tactician. Remember, she infiltrated our base on Zebes _twice_, and single-handedly stopped our operations in countless other areas. She knows what she's doing… which is why _you _should command the fight against the southern front of the base."

The giant reptile nearly fell over when he heard this. "What! Why me? If she's such a good war-planner, then what makes you think I'd be a match for her?"

"She's met me in battle too many times. Twice on Zebes, once here on Tallon IV, even a copy of me in orbit around that damned planet SR388. She's only fought you twice, and never really any troops under your command."

"But… but I only tell my troops to run at the enemy and shoot them."

"_Exactly! _She'll be expecting some cunning form of combat, an intellectual game. Your bluntness and… let's face it, vulgar stupidity with throw her off balance. You can beat her at her own game by not playing, rather just kicking all the pieces off the board in a fit of temper!"

At this, the three-eyed Pirate commander shrugged. "Whatever you say, Rids." He then began to lumber off, accidentally crushing some of his own troops beneath his massive girth while bellowing orders to just bum-rush the enemy.

"Don't call me Rids," the Space Dragon muttered under his breath, then took flight to take command of the northern assault. It would end today, for one side or the other. And his money was on the latter choice.

**Author's Note: **As with Negative Halo 2 (which has restarted from the beginning so it's much better), don't expect this to be updated often. I'm just reinforcing my promise that I'm getting _some _work done.


	13. Chapter 12: War Games

Chapter 12: War Games

Samus Aran stood in one of the open-air hallways of the Pirate base on Tallon IV, her chosen place to get a tactical view of the battlefield and command her troops. Her own Pirates had dug into trenches, behind steel plating, and cooped themselves up inside special anti-personnel turrets. The enemy, composed of only Zebesian Pirates, advanced steadily towards their position.

The bounty hunter walked back and forth, her boots clanging on the metal deck, her eyes sweeping over the riflemen in front of her. Each clutched a high-powered plasma rifle in their hands, a couple shaking with nervousness. She patted those ones on the shoulder, and it seemed to calm their nerves a little.

Suddenly, a shot rang out, and Samus' head snapped up to look over the battlefield. She had no idea who fired the shot. In fact, no one did, but whoever fired set off both sides. The advancing Pirates opened up their menacing claws and unleashed electrical beams as they broke into a flat-out run; the Pirates in the trenches opened up with their galvanic accelerator cannons, sending red motes of light flying across the snowy landscape towards their attackers. The Pirates that were perched throughout the base clutching high-powered rifles waited only a couple of moments for their enemy to get in range before opening up. Turrets across the surface of the spires flared into activation and rained hot plasma down on the attackers. The bounty hunter allowed herself a grin at the wholesale slaughter before her, but she remained alert, ever vigilant for the surprise tactic that was sure to come.

But it didn't. She waited and waited with bated breath, but no cunning battlefield moves presented themselves: the troops just rushed the base, running clear into white-hot death. Her grin was replaced by a frown. Who was commanding these guys, an idiot?

Her hand strayed up to the side of her helmet, opening a communications channel. "Samus Aran to Spire Interception Teams," she said clearly into her helmet, "Report."

The responses all came back negative: every team at every intersection, and every Pirate patrolling every hall reported no intruders. She changed frequencies and asked those in charge of the automated defenses to run a scan of the corridors and rooms, but they too came back negative. There wasn't one thermal or x-ray signature that wasn't supposed to be there. Samus was still wracking her brain when the solution thundered over the horizon and let out a mighty roar.

The huntress saw the giant lizard and suddenly realized what was going on. "Ah yes," she muttered to herself. "There's our idiot now."

On the north side, however, the situation was entirely different. The Pirate troops under Ridley's command took cover, dug holes, set up artillery, and fought using their brains as well as their trigger fingers. Epsillius used every ounce of combat wit and wisdom in his mind to keep them at bay, though he knew that at least the enemy's commando squads would be able to get through. Of course, that was what the Interception Teams were for: to repel enemy invasion.

The Pirate Commander's mind was also occupied with other things. He knew his reinforcements would arrive soon: several battleships full to the brim with rebelling Pirates that would bombard the battlefield from space, eliminating these final obstacles to Pirate dominance in the galaxy.

He frowned, the truth of something he had previously realized hitting him like a hammer. Once the ships showed up, his deception of Samus Aran would at last be exposed to her. His idea had been ingenious: after the hunter had been knocked unconscious when she first arrived, he immediately had her sedated and brought back to his base. Under his command, the surgeons quickly performed a type of brain surgery, placing a small chip in the back of her head that would alter the chemicals in her mind over time and making her cooperative with the Pirates. Quite a few times he feared that she had discovered, but she remained ever ignorant of his treachery.

However, when the battleships arrived flying the Radon Pirate flag, his ruse would evaporate and she would know the truth. It was then, unfortunately, that he knew he would have to eliminate her. _Too bad, really_, he thought to himself, _she was quite a capable general. _But his plans had to succeed, and in order for that to happen the one responsible for the destruction of Zebes had to be annihilated.

Dash Stardrex knew what had to be done: a path needed to be cleared through the invading force and defenders into the Pirate base so he could easily infiltrate it. He broke the seal on a Galactic Federation weapons locker and removed the lid. Steam poured out, and when it was cleared by the ship's internal cleaning devices, the bounty hunter found himself staring down at one of the most glorious, state-of-the-art, and experimental Federation weapons in existence: the X59-K Sniper Rifle.

He gingerly picked it up with both hands and removed it from the locker, admiring its sleek silver-colored plating, long barrel, high-powered scope, and comfortable designer grip. It fired a special laser that was invisible from the time it left the barrel to the time it reached its target. At that point it would sink in and expand, essentially vaporizing a small radius of matter in the target. The only problem was that it emitted a high sonic frequency, but it wasn't loud enough to be heard by humans or those grunt Pirates; probably not enough for Kraid either. It was the perfect weapon to covertly blaze a trail through a mob of enemies.

Trudging back outside, Dash noted that the rifle had a warning on the side: "Keep cool to avoid overheating." The battery would recharge in a snap if it was cool enough, and the bounty hunter surmised that the snow of the Phendrana Region would be enough to keep the temperature down.

Dropping to one knee, the red-haired man raised the rifle and gazed through the scope. A Pirate Commando appeared large through the viewer, the details of its upper torso etched in high-definition. Taking careful aim, Dash lightly squeezed the firing contacts and a pinprick of light flashed briefly from the muzzle. An identical flash erupted inside the Commando's head, which was instantly vaporized, leaving nothing but empty space above and between the shoulders. The body collapsed to the ground as Pirates all around it yelped in alarm and dove out of the way of where they thought it was coming from: the Radon Base.

Dash smiled widely, his incisors and canines gleaming in the muted light of the planet's sun. He was going to have a lot of fun.

Samus was swearing up a storm in her helmet, forgetting that she still had a channel open to her own men. Fortunately, few of the human and Chozo swears had Pirate equivalents, so most of what came through their translators just sounded like garbage. Kraid, of all Pirates! Why was he there? Mother Brain had only revived him once because he was so useless… a thought suddenly froze her in her tracks. Could Mother Brain have been revived? She fought a feeling of revulsion that threatened to overwhelm her. No, if she were still alive, she wouldn't have sent both of her generals out to fight. She would have kept them close to her to protect her.

Another screech erupted from Kraid, but this time it was not a roar of challenge: he was in pain. She looked up and saw a spike come hurtling out of his belly and sonic speeds straight at the base. She barely had enough time to yell orders to brace before it impacted in the side several levels below Samus' position, forcing its way through the titanium alloys and hard outer ice shells of the building. And when it finally stopped moving inward, it exploded and sent thousands of needle-like shards spiraling outwards. Samus was knocked off her feet by the force of the blast.

Energy flowed over her, expended by her energy tanks, repairing her bruises and cracked ribs as she climbed back onto her feet. A nearby wall terminal flickered to life, flashing damage reports across the screen. She called out for all squads to respond, and most of them did. However, the spike had obliterated quite a handful.

The base now had a gaping hole in its side, and the explosion had sent a ripple through the base, cracking several of the alloy plates. The automated turrets that hadn't been destroyed continued to fire, plasma lancing downwards and cutting through entire lines of invading Pirates at a time, but the manned turrets hesitated, unsure of what to do.

"Keep firing!" Samus shouted over the channel to all Pirates, and those not already doing so quickly obliged. "Heavy artillery, focus on Kraid. Everyone else, keep firing and hold off the invaders." Switching off her communications, she growled in her helmet. She wanted to be out there, on the battlefield; but Epsillius had asked her to remain and command the troops. And that was what she had steeled herself to do.

Ridley heard the mental frustration of his companion, even from all the way across the battlefield. He had been monitoring the giant lizard's mind, constantly figuring out the situation based on his brainwaves. Kraid had attempted a brazen attack on the base itself, a brilliant tactic for such an underdeveloped creature. However, the monster hadn't used such a technique in a long time, and suddenly doing it again caused him great amounts of pain. Plus, the now-constant bombardment of high-powered energy on his cranium wasn't helping.

Sighing, the telepathic Space Dragon returned his attention to his own troops and their movements. He noted with satisfaction that all of the infantry had found their proper locations, and the commando squadrons seemed ready to move in. He reached out with his mind, doing a quick mental "role call" to ensure that everyone was ready…

One squad wasn't on the battlefield anymore. Their brains had long since gone silent. Only slightly troubled, Ridley decided to begin issuing his orders telepathically… when suddenly a series of hypersonic whistles sounded in his ear. At first he believed them to only be a minor annoyance when suddenly he realized that another squad of four commandos was no longer thinking. In fact, their brains were no longer there, in the physical sense of the word.

Now he was confused. More hypersonic whistling, and another commando group disappeared from the mortal coil. Ridley snarled in frustration, and quickly told the surviving groups to rush inside if they wanted to avoid dying horribly. There was more hypersonic whistling as yet another group of commandos fell, but Ridley tracked it this time. He looked in the direction of the sound… there, on top of a frozen plateau, was a ship that looked vaguely familiar…

The clunker! Ridley screeched in surprise and anticipation. He could get revenge for his humiliation in the atmosphere above the planet. A forked tongue darted over his lips, his eyes greedy for the sight of the human's blood, and with one fierce beat of his wings he was airborne.


	14. Chapter 13: Discovery

Chapter 13: Discovery

Epsillius surveyed the damage report from Kraid's attack, wincing at the defenses and personnel lost in the blast. The monstrous reptile had blown a large hole straight through their defenses and left a blind spot that none of the turrets could cover. Fortunately, Samus had acted quickly and moved more men to cover the hole, but it looked like it wouldn't be necessary: the Southern front was easily pushing back their opposition. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for Epsillius' half of the battlefield. Ridley's troops had proved to be far more capable than he could have thought.

Suddenly, a wounded Pirate infantry trooper rushed in. Blood poured freely from several burns and lacerations on his left arm, running down in streams and dripping off his pointed claw-fingers.

"Sir," he said, gasping for breath, "Pirate Commandos have breached the perimeter. They're making mincemeat of our Interception Teams and auto-turrets! We can't stop them! Soon, they'll make it into our secure section."

Epsillius swore in his native tongue, a word so vehemently obscene that it has no English equivalent. "What about our power and wave troopers? Our Shadow Pirates?" He asked, ever hopeful of a resolution. However, the only response was a solemn shake of the head. "Dammit… we're doomed. If they find what we're hiding…"

"I have a suggestion, sir," the Pirate spoke up, ignoring the pain shooting up and down his arm like an electrical current. "What if we sent the Hunter?"

A light went on in Epsillius' head, evident by a slight glitter in his emerald eyes. However, it quickly dimmed as a thought threatened to snuff it out. "But she might discover our secrets as well, which would be just as bad…"

"But would that violate the mind control chip? It's not as if we were lying to her about that," the infantryman piped in again, causing Epsillius to once again pause and consider the facts. If he didn't do it, then surely their operations would be destroyed and this whole base, this whole deception would be for nothing. But if he allowed the Hunter to solve this problem…

"Alright," he said, "Tell her. Then go get yourself cleaned up."

* * *

"Oh holy s—" was all that Dash managed to squeeze out as he watched Ridley drop from above him, screaming a bone-rattling battle cry. The bounty hunter rolled out of the way just in time, the Space Dragon's claws digging into the snow where he just was. He sprung up onto both his legs, taking only a quick moment to study his adversary.

"Ridley, Scourge of Zebes!" he cried in challenge at the dragon.

"Nuisance!" was the only reply elicited, and the dragon opened his maw, napalm flowing out towards his opponent. But Dash was fast, ducking and diving out of the way of the flames, rolling to put out any possible fires that had erupted on his clothing. When he once again got to his feet, he threw down the sniper rifle and popped his Smith-Hitachi out of its holster.

Depressing the firing contact multiple times, plasma lanced out of the barrel of the weapon and struck the creature. Ridley howled in rage and frustration at missing twice, but the shots seemed to do nothing to harm him. His spiked tail lashed out at Dash, but once again his quick reflexes saved him from being decapitated. The dragon pulled his tail back, screeched again, and took to the skies. Dash continued firing, hoping to hit a sweet spot. One blast managed to find Ridley's eye, and the dragon roared in pain. Immediately shifting his tactics, the bounty hunter began maneuvering yet still hitting Ridley in the face.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the dragon screeched one long note and began to plummet to the ground. But just before he hit, he beat his wings as hard as his muscles would allow, knocking Dash flat on his back in the snow, and Ridley pounced on him, pinning him to the ground with two massive claws.

"I will thoroughly enjoy ripping you apart!" The Space Dragon snarled, saliva spraying everywhere. His yellow eyes shone brightly with purple veins running across them, displaying his fury and irritation.

To this, Dash just responded with a smile. Suddenly, what seemed like one of the buttons on Dash's bandolier, the one directly above his sternum, gave a nanosecond-long pneumatic hiss and then propelled itself at the Space Dragon. It adhered to the creature's long, pencil-thin neck, and a red light began flashing in the center. The device distracted Ridley long enough to allow Dash to slip free and begin running.

"Do you know what that is?" he called out over his shoulder as he ran, his grin growing wider as he pulled a coin-sized detonator from one of his pockets. "It's a micro-bomb!" Ridley's eyes grew wide in recognition as Dash pushed the detonator. One small beep later, there was an explosion of smoke and snow. When the powder cleared, Ridley's body, minus his neck, collapsed onto the ground; his head landed a yard from where the bounty hunter had been knocked off his feet.

For the first time since the trip began, Dash found himself grinning with genuine mirth. He had killed Ridley, the dreaded Space Pirate commander. That was bound to be worth a little bonus.

* * *

Samus Aran pumped her legs as hard as she could, which was certainly saying something: traveling at 67 miles-per-hour over snow-covered terrain was no small matter. Her objective loomed in front of her, towering over the battlefield and swatting at ineffective laser blasts that were peppering his skin. Kraid was a bit bigger than she remembered, but then again her memory of that was blurred by the passage of time.

"Samus!" he cried out, obviously having spotted her approach. "It's been such a long time... and last time we met, I never had the pleasure of crushing you under my foot! I hope to fix that now." Inside her helmet the bounty hunter rolled her eyes; he was still horrible at the whole witty banter thing. Hell, he was still horrible at the whole witty thing on its own.

It was too easy to dodge his foot and jump onto his knee. While he growled with rage, Samus continued her ascent, scrambling frantically up his leg and onto his torso. With an enraged howl he loosed his stomach spikes, but she nimbly slid out of the way and kept climbing, grabbing handfuls of fat and scales to pull herself up with, digging in with her arm spikes where she needed.

Once she was up to his neck he was swiping futilely at her with his tiny claws; she grabbed hold of his lip, hauled herself up, and pointed her cannon directly into his face.

"Why can't you ever stay dead?"

She armed her missiles and fired once, twice, thrice. The giant lizard roared in pain, finally articulating his arms enough to swipe at her; she allowed the claw to knock her from his jowls, grasping his fingers and pulling herself up to her wrist. Switching her arm cannon to gatling mode she shoved the cold metal straight into the flesh and twisted.

"This is going to hurt," she warned. "You have till the count of ten to withdraw and run back to your Mother Brain."

Kraid growled down at her. "Mother's dead!"

"Then who's your commander?"

"I am!" He swung his arm as hard as he could, but Samus stayed on.

"You're a bad liar, Kraid," Samus screamed, but something felt wrong. He was a bad liar, that was true, but this didn't sound like a lie. "Who's running your forces? Who's commanding the fleets?"

"Ridley is, but he and I are all that's left!" He swung again. Samus dug into his arm with the spikes but still didn't fire.

"That's impossible! You're still too dumb to do everything."

Just as she began to warm up the barrels Kraid bucked his wrist again and shook her cannon loose. She slowed the rotation of the barrels before she wasted any rounds. He glared down at her with three eyes. "My cortical region thingie may not be as advanced as Ridley's, but I was a Pirate Commander for a reason."

Samus didn't bother with talk anymore. She brought the weapon around and aimed it right at his head. "Go home, Kraid," she said, and then squeezed the firing contacts. A concentrated stream of solid projectiles spewed forth from the barrel. The giant lizard screamed, arms flailing wildly, throwing off Samus's aim and the bounty hunter herself. As she landed she looked up and noted that he had been grievously wounded, his right eye missing. In a mix of panic and pain he began running, as fast as he could manage, in the opposite direction of the base.

_Well_, Samus thought to herself, looking around at Kraid's already incompetent troops panic and run with him, _that's one way to accomplish my mission_.

But Kraid's words still floated in her mind, making her feel queasy. Mother Brain was dead, and that suited her just fine; but what about High Command? Why was Ridley in charge? Or Kraid, for that matter? There was always a command structure in place above them because the Pirates knew they couldn't be trusted to lead. One was too dumb, the other too manipulative.

What was going on here that she was missing?

"Samus, come in. This is Epsillius."

_Speak of the devil_. "Epsillius, Kraid is retreating."

"Excellent news, but we'll have to postpone celebration. Ridley's commando teams have gotten into our base and are neutralizing our defenses. We need you to eliminate them before they reach the command center."

She nodded. "Roger that, I'm on my way."

* * *

The assault looked like it was wrapping up. Digging his heels into the snow, Dash made his way towards the base. Kraid's forces were pulling back and Ridley's, though committed to fighting until their last, were dying out.

He knew something was up. Losses this staggering were something the Pirates wouldn't have stood for and they should have called for backup. But his ship, still monitoring communications, hadn't detected any off-world transmissions from either Ridley or Kraid's forces, even now as they fled the battlefield back to their landed ships. Meanwhile the supposedly alone rebel Pirates were making transmissions like crazy to various other systems.

Unless they were pleading for mercy, which he doubted very much given the situation, he had to wonder what internal politics the Federation had been overlooking recently, given its own internal corruption, the BSL station incident a prime example. If there had been a major regime change while the Federation was distracted it could be dangerous. He made a mental note to include this in his after action report and then charge extra for having to file an after action report.

One of the fleeing Pirates spotted him and took a few potshots but otherwise didn't halt its own motion. Dash, likewise, pulled his blaster from his hip holster and fired, though with far more accuracy: the Pirate collapsed to the ground, blood pouring from where its insectoid head had been moments before.

He was close to the base. Now, he knew, he'd have to deal with the sentries and guards, and though several shots were taken in his direction they seemed distracted by something else.

Dash didn't dwell on it. He rushed forward, killed the two closest rebel Pirates and slipped into the base. If he acted quickly he could steal Samus's ship, order his to follow, and get back to the Federation before this battle was even finished. Technically he had accomplished his mission: he located Samus, assessed her condition, and determined her to not be in need of rescuing. In addition he had confirmed that the rebellious pirates had a strong presence on Tallon IV and would most likely require trooper intervention to root it out, if not a total wipe of the planet. Back on M510 there was a warm meal, comfortable bed, some beautiful women and a nice 500 billion credit paycheck waiting for him.

_All in all_, he considered as he neutralized another guard and made his way for the lift, _not a bad payday_.

His ascent went relatively unhindered. As he had suspected the Pirates were either preparing for something or dealing with an internal threat; here and there the Tallonian marauders rushed to and fro, toting either heavy-duty assault gear or sealed crates for transport. Dash didn't stop to admire anything in particular but took careful note as he went.

It was like he had noted: he had seen last stands before, and these Pirates weren't in that position. They were making ready to leave; if they hadn't any allies, there wouldn't be any place to which they could or should leave.

By now it was too obvious what was going on.

He was on the level that housed Samus's ship, but before he could make his way to the hangar, he heard the sound of claws scraping against the ground. With only a moment to spare, he ducked into an open doorway and pressed himself as far into the jamb as he could.

A red Zebesian and two Tallonians hurried past. They were speaking hurriedly; Dash, overcome with curiosity, activated the translator in his ear.

"The commandos are moving quickly and with purpose," said one.

The Zebesian growled. "They mean to disrupt the launch. We cannot allow that to happen."

"What of the hunter?"

"She remains in our thrall. Assuming she does not become too aware of our control over her, she will continue to be a valuable asset. If need be, we can continue to lure her along with the promise of Chozo relics and more Torizo to vanquish."

Dash waited before they left, then stepped out into the hall. Samus was being controlled? That made more sense than the alternative, but it complicated things for Dash. For the first time in a long time, he felt the rumblings of a crisis of conscience. Judging by the internal map, he was meters away from finding Samus's ship and escaping in the chaos of battle. With the billions of credits he was now guaranteed to receive, a nice, early retirement was not out of the question; in all likelihood, he could even _buy_ a resort moon to lounge on.

But there was another kind of credit he desired, and that was within his community, among his fellow bounty hunters. Were Samus dead or a pawn of the Space Pirates, he was number one. But still, he was only number one with her gone. But what if she were still around and _still_ he was the best? What if, in her final moment of weakness, he stepped in and rescued her? Power suit or no, he would be the victor in all respects.

He could rescue her and complete his mission. The micro-bomb he had spent killing Ridley was _not_ the most powerful bomb on him.

His mind was made up. Taking care not to alert them, Dash began to trail the trio of Pirates in hopes of tipping their hand.

* * *

This was how Samus liked to operate: alone. Many of her soldiers had volunteered to fight with her, but she had ordered them to either assist with rebuilding the base or move to the northern front to help repel Ridley's troops. Now it was just her and the commando teams, and much to her dismay she was without her precious X-ray Visor. It had been an indispensable boon when fighting them in previous encounters, but without it she would have to rely on other means. Unfortunately they didn't seem to involve Epsillius or the rest of the command staff, as her requests by radio for a status update had gone unanswered for the past several minutes.

Scanning the hallways carefully as she made her way through, she had to look for the shimmer of cloaking technology, that tell-tale sign that someone who didn't feel at home was sneaking around. Already she had identified and destroyed two intruders, and was hunting another two.

She took a step onto a connecting bridge when laser fire seemed to spring out of nowhere. Ducking back, she guessed where the shots had come from and returned fire. There was a grunt and then heavy talons against the floor, fading fast. In the spot where she had suspected there was a pool of blood, and then a few others leading away. Perhaps it was dumb luck, but she couldn't help but smile at her fortune and skill; who else could dispatch enemies as quickly as her? If her will was done, the Radon Pirates would be victorious this day.

It was an easy task to follow the sanguine trail, though she was aware that the commando could be using it to lead her off-course. The stains she followed were becoming farther between; either his wound was clotting up fast or he had stemmed the flow of blood. Neither choice mattered in the end, however, as she came upon a section of grated floor with two options of direction: left or straight.

Samus chewed her lip for a second. She had no idea what their objective was. Epsillius hadn't said, but he probably didn't know himself. Ridley had always been a sly and skilled commander. For a moment, the bounty hunter pondered why she hadn't seen him yet; usually he went out of his way to confront her, such as coming back from the dead several times. For now, though, it didn't matter.

_Taking too much time_, she decided, and chose to go left. The center of the base was in that direction, and if the commandos were after anything it would be the command spire.

Heading in that direction, she saw no one, no bodies either living or dead. She began to worry that perhaps she had chosen the wrong direction, but contented herself that if she continued she could at least get a status update from the command center.

Up ahead she saw the entrance to the command center, closed but not sealed. Odd. She would have suspected them to follow some kind of lockdown procedure in the event that the base was infiltrated. Slowing to a stop by the door she keyed her entry code and stepped through into an empty command center.

Not just empty, but seemingly ransacked. All the monitors were off, making the spire seem much darker than usual. Samus scanned around for signs of battle, but found none; there was some disarray, things tossed around, but overall the signs pointed to an orderly—even practiced—withdrawal. Was that part of the procedure? Move the command and support staff somewhere else that was considered secure?

She tried her radio again. "Epsillius, come in. This is Samus Aran."

Nothing.

Before she could do anything else, however, there was a clang above her. Looking up, she saw a shape dart along one of the overhead walkways and through an open door. The commando! She jumped into the air, activating her Screw Attack module and somersaulting all the way up, following close on the heels of the intruder. She noted the lack of blood on the floor; this was the unharmed one.

_We can fix that._

Now the commando seemed to be in an awful hurry. He was running full-tilt down the halls, making wide turns and slamming into loose detritus. From here he didn't even seem to have his cloak activated. Samus could have engaged her Speed Booster, caught him easily, but for now she was content to let him run, lead her towards his objective.

He approached a lift and slid into the small enclosure, palming the mechanism as he passed. Slowly the platform climbed, but Samus jumped and again activated her Screw Attack, following closely. When the lift came to a stop after a prolonged chase, she exploded through the thin metal floor and resumed her pursuit.

She realized she was much higher in the tower than she had ever been before, but tried not to let that fact distract her. Epsillius had told her to stay close to the bottom levels during her stay; he had never said why, but she had no problem obeying his command. A headache formed in her brain, but she pushed it down: no matter what his reasons, she was fulfilling another mission now. This had priority.

Up ahead, two large mechanical doors opened into an area lit by natural light, so bright that Samus couldn't see past the glare. When she passed through it cleared, and suddenly she could see.

She could see so _clearly_.

The Pirate she had been chasing wasn't a commando, it was a Tallonian, but that was in the back of her mind now. This was a hangar open to the sky, dominated by a cruiser that was holding on-station just outside the tower with loading spars hooked up to the edge. It must have arrived during her search for the commandos, because she hadn't realized it came in, but she realized they were facing north now.

Everywhere were Pirates, Tallonian and Zebesian and Utzoian, stepping off the ship or onto it, carrying or pushing crates. Several nearby, paused in their work upon her clearly unexpected arrival, had been loading several clear-faced containers. But it was what occupied these containers that had brought her whole mind to a screeching halt.

Floating, gelatinous creatures that bobbed lazily inside reinforced glass canisters. Horrible little things that Samus knew would eat away at a person and leave nothing left. As she looked at them, she felt a fear return that she hadn't known in quite some time, a primal fear leftover from her acquisition of Metroid DNA.

They were the X.

Entire crates full of them were scattered about, creating a disorganized line towards the docking spar. And on the precipice of the hangar, standing at the edge of the cruiser's connection was another container, more spacious than the rest, in which a small, mushroom-shaped lifeform hovered, glowing and swooping back and forth hungrily. Its visible nuclei pulsed, its fangs twitched. The Metroid within, seeing all this food around it, screeched for a meal.

Beside it, a cloaked figure turned, the sun making his subdued crimson skin become like a flame. "Hello, Samus," Epsillius said, eyes gleaming. "Welcome, Great Destroyer, to the rebirth of the Space Pirates."


	15. Chapter 14: Awaken to Reality

Chapter 14: Awaken to Reality

"Welcome, Great Destroyer, to the rebirth of the Space Pirates."

Samus was frozen by those words. It was like a layer of dream had been peeled back, and now she was looking at the harsh organs of reality. She was not surrounded by warriors or soldiers or comrades, but by Pirates. Epsillius wasn't a benevolent rebel commander, he was just a crippled Pirate.

But still, she couldn't move.

"I'm sorry you had to find out like this," said Epsillius. "Had it all gone according to plan, you would never have discovered it on your own. I would have introduced you to the idea first, gradually, and not risk overloading the augmentation chip. But I hadn't expected Ridley and Kraid to scrape together enough resistance for one final battle. They are defeated now, their troops being run down as we speak, but it seems that the damage is done."

"You..." Samus was seething. "How did you do this?"

Epsillius shrugged, the folds of his ill-gotten Chozo cloak shifting and revealing his glittering mechanical claw. "You were unconscious for three days, enough time for us to perform surgery and cover up the evidence." A crooked, mirthless smile formed on his face. "Did you really think you were so sympathetic to our cause? Of course you weren't. We simply had to rewrite your brain chemistry into something more... cooperative."

Unbidden, memories of Samus's mother surfaced. She felt like throwing up. "You used my mother to control my mind?"

"Yes." Epsillius took a step away from the crate beside him. The Metroid slammed itself against the resin polymer, trying to get at the Myrnai, but to no avail. "Family always makes the best leverage."

The bounty hunter couldn't take her eyes off the Metroid. She gritted her teeth; still her limbs would not respond. "Where did you get that thing?"

"The Metroid?" Epsillius tapped the box with his mechanical claw. "Stolen from the computers of the passing Federation ships and recreated in the Phazon mines. The process wasn't too difficult, thanks to the ingenuity of the Federation scientists, but it was timely and costly. I had hoped to have more than just one by now, but this one shall do."

So the Federation had been right all along. "And the X?"

Epsillius's smile returned. "Why, Samus," he said, drawing out each syllable, "what did you _think_ was being transported on those Federation ships?"

The pit of her stomach went cold. There was so much she didn't understand, so much that had been held back from her. X on Federation transports? Her rage now was double that of when she had discovered the secret Metroid breeding program on the BSL station. The Metroids were bad enough—just glancing at the hovering form in the crate was enough to make her mouth go sour—but the X were a tireless and relentless creature that would sweep across the galaxy. If they got loose, there would be no stopping them.

Her mind felt like it was on fire, but it wasn't just from the stunning revelations. There was physical pain, too, at the base of her skull. With difficulty, she brought her hand up to her helmet. "What did you do to me?"

"Installed a chip to regulate your brain chemicals, after you arrived in Phendrana," said Epsillius. "I couldn't control you directly, but thanks to the memories of your mother and that wonderful piece of technology attached to your cortex, I was certainly able to guide you. I could influence what you paid attention to, what made you angry or sad or happy. You were—and still are—under my metaphorical thumb."

Panic rose in her mind at the thought, but suddenly she felt blissful. Her eyes fluttered. "Unfortunately," continued the Pirate, "the conscious mind and the subconscious are very different. I cannot alter your awareness of a situation, but I can make it difficult for you to react." He raised his metal claw, opening it and exposing the inner barrel. It glowed dangerously. "You were an amazing general, Samus Aran. You would have made a great Pirate."

Suddenly his claw pitched to the side, sending the charged plasma beam into the floor a few feet away from Samus. With anger in his eyes, the Myrnai looked up. Samus followed his gaze to see a man nestled in the docking tethers high above, a long rifle in his arms. From here, she could barely make out his crazed grin.

"Sorry, chump," he said, "but I have a contract to fulfill. I need the lady to come with me."

Hearing his voice, she recognized him as Dash Stardrex. She would have groaned if it had been a more opportune time; the man was a bounty hunter, a good one, but not as good as she was. He had made a stink about her after the first time she had attacked Zebes, claiming that he was better than her if she would only step out of her power suit and fight him face-to-face. She had never given him a second thought, though, and instead chose to get on with her life.

Apparently, he hadn't.

Dash fired again and again, the rifle bucking in his hand and making quiet puffing noises, but Samus knew the model of rifle he was using operated in the supersonic frequencies. Several of the Pirates around Epsillius collapsed, but the red Zebesian raised his metal claw and fired a missile. Dash released the tethers and dropped several feet to the top of a pile of crates. He raised the rifle again and fired a few more times before jumping down.

"Be careful!" Samus yelled. "Don't hit those containers!"

"Yeah, I know," he growled. He started making a run for her as the Pirates returned fire. With a grunt he bodily tackled her, sending the two of them skidding a few feet to cover. Epsillius shouted for his men to cease fire, also not wanting to set the X loose. Dash picked himself up into a kneeling position and dumped the rifle. "You're heavy."

"You're an idiot." Samus sat up, finding it easier to move. "It was pure luck that the supersonic waves that thing lets off didn't shatter the casings around the X."

Dash scowled at her. "Maybe so, but that thing's overheated now. Useless. Maybe you can help?"

Samus shook her head. "I can't do much. He's disrupting my ability to fight with that stupid chip."

"Do you know where the controller is for it?"

She pondered a moment. He had been able to manipulate her mind's chemistry while standing right in front of her. The Chozo cloak he wore obscured most of his body, but... "In his claw."

Nodding, Dash unholstered a large pistol from his hip. Inside her helmet, Samus shot up an eyebrow. The Smith-Hitachi Godzilla Blaster was a popular and powerful weapon, one that she wouldn't mind carrying herself if her suit wasn't so restrictive. Back when she had a more mechanical version, there was room underneath for only a stun gun, but this new organic version held to her body a lot more closely. She only had her beam cannon.

Dash peeked around the crates, then fired several shots. The Pirates that had been sneaking up on them screamed and fell; he took cover for a moment from retaliatory strikes and then fired again, this time sending most of his projectiles at Epsillius. The Myrnai ducked to the side, but didn't fire back.

"He's spry," said Dash, "but he's too afraid of rupturing the containers."

"Oh joy," said Samus, sarcasm dripping from her words, "a stalemate." Her mind rushed to come up with a solution. They had to get the upper hand before...

The doors into the hangar slammed open, and the pair of bounty hunters turned to face them as two hulking forms walked into the hangar. At first, judging by their outlines, Samus feared she was facing the Omega Pirate again, but as they stepped into the light she saw that they were robots, highly upgraded versions of the one she had fought as a test. Their internal workings were covered in gleaming armor this time, making them look far less vulnerable than before.

Immediately the robots opened fire with Super Missiles, sending the projectiles streaking for the bounty hunters. She rolled to one side as Dash jumped, avoiding the explosion. Samus realized that the robots hadn't been programmed to be careful of their environment, and had no qualms with firing on them while they were so close to the X containers.

Her advantage lost, Samus was determined to fight head-on.

Remembering her early testing session, she activated her grapple beam and fired; but just when the beam should have attached to the armor, it refused to stick, instead fizzling into nothingness.

_Of course_, she realized as she deactivated the module. _They would have special upgrades to deal with me in case I figured out what was going on_. She switched to her beam weapons and began firing, but all of them were reflected off, sending the ordinance in unpredictable directions.

Elsewhere she heard Dash fighting the other one, and from the frequency and urgency of his shouts he wasn't faring any better. Her mechanical opponent unleashed a hellish inferno with its flamethrower, forcing Samus to jump to the side.

There was only one weapon she hadn't yet tried against it before, though now she was loathe to use it. She armed the Gatling Gun, took aim, and fired.

She didn't expect the rounds to do much damage, and technically they didn't. However, they had great penetration, easily slicing through the armor and out the other side. Her aim went wild from the recoil, sending her arm-cannon arcing through the air and only causing damage up and down the right side of the robot. She retargeted and let loose again, sending hundreds of solid projectiles into the metal body. It took a lot concentration and effort, but she dragged the stream of bullets diagonally across her foe.

Something vital must have been damaged, because suddenly it toppled. It tried to pick itself up, but its motor systems must have been damaged. Taking advantage of the situation, Samus quickly targeted the sensor array in the head and took it out of commission. Disabled almost entirely, the robot's fail-safe kicked in and it shut down.

Now Samus refocused on the other one, but saw with dismay that her own battle had used up most of her ammunition. But the robot was focused on Dash, who was trying to evade its attacks without the aid of a power suit, leaving its back exposed. Samus picked an important-looking bulge and used the last of her rounds to carve a hole and weaken the armor. Then she armed a missile and fired it directly into the newly-made gap.

The entire robot combusted, flames roiling out from the hole and spewing from every seam it could find. Smoke poured out of its weapon and its sensor array sparked from the heat. Somehow, Samus had been lucky enough to hit its flamethrower fuel supply. It tried to function properly, attempting to turn towards its new foe, but with its circuitry melting it didn't last long. With a prolonged screech of metal it fell to the floor.

Samus looked at Dash, who nodded his thanks, when suddenly her whole world turned into pain. There was a smell of ash and gunpowder, fire all around her as she was sent back several feet in the air before crashing down against the hard metal. Despite the protection of her helmet, her ears were ringing. A few more massive explosions shook the ground around her, but all she could focus on were the droplets of blood on the inside of her visor.

She blacked out.

* * *

Dash Stardrex could only look on as Epsillius pounded Samus with Super Missiles. He had never believed in solidarity between bounty hunters, especially when it came to Samus, but it was still difficult to watch. As the dust and debris from the blasts faded, he could see the orange of her power suit laying on the ground unmoving.

Apparently the robots had been a distraction, enough of one to allow the Pirates more time to load their precious cargo. The Metroid was gone, as were most of the X parasites, and several of the Pirates were still frantically scrambling to get as many crates aboard as they could. In their rush, they had forgotten Dash's presence.

_You dare overlook the greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy?_ Even as he thought it, though, he knew he was outgunned. Tempting as it was to turn and leave Samus to whatever fate the crimson Myrnai had planned for her, Dash couldn't abandon her as simply as that. He had a reputation to consider, and if he could save Samus, that reputation would be all the more powerful. With that thought in mind, he reached into a satchel that hung at his waist and withdrew a good-sized device. Scrawled on the side with paint were the words "Last Resort."

It was a powerful thermonuclear bomb, the kind that the Federation planted in sensitive outposts to ensure their destruction. Most self-destruct devices employed at least one of these at its core; in fact, a larger version of that particular bomb had been used by the Pirates when they destroyed Zebes, and by the Federation in the BSL laboratories' self-destruct sequence that also destroyed SR388.

Such a thing had cost Dash quite a lot of credits to get his hands on, and now he had to use it in defense of one of his least favorite people.

The metal casing was perfectly sealed, and set up so that any tampering would result in premature detonation. In addition, once programmed and activated, there was no command to stop the countdown. He was counting on the fact that the Pirates couldn't drum up the precise cutting equipment needed in time. Carefully he opened the main panel and set a time of twenty minutes. Then, locking the panel, he activated the bomb and walked out with it held over his head.

The Pirates, upon seeing him, all rounded with their weapons ready, but Epsillius gave a frantic screech for them to stop. They halted their movement, and Dash watched realization dawn on their faces.

"I don't know how well we understand each other," he began, "but I know you understand _this_. I already activated it and put twenty minutes on the clock, which I think is more than enough time for you to take what you've already loaded, get into your ship, and get clear before I turn this whole base into a crater."

Epsillius glared at him, but Dash just dropped the bomb onto the floor and pointed his Godzilla Blaster at it. "You know what happens if you breach the casing on these things, and you may be able to cut me down but not before I pull this trigger." His eyes swept over the assembled Pirates. "I'm not as ideological as our girl back there, but I _do_ hate Pirates. Fortunately for you, I don't believe in sacrificing myself for the greater good. I'm letting you walk away now with whatever cargo you already have."

For a moment, nobody did anything. The Pirates all exchanged significant glances, but Dash just locked his eyes on the apparent leader. Epsillius glared at him in return, and then raised his claw. "Get on board," he said to the others, "and secure the cargo for transport. We are leaving." As the Pirates packed up and started filing onto the ship, Epsillius turned to leave himself.

"Foolish human," he said. "Only your luck has saved you this day."

At that, Dash grinned. "Listen Red, you get to walk away from the number one bounty hunter in the galaxy. From what I can see, _you're _the lucky one."

Soon after that, the Pirates were loaded and the docking spar retracted. As the ship drifted away and began ascending into the upper atmosphere, Dash hurried away from the site of his heroic stand towards Samus.

But no matter what he did, he couldn't wake the limp body. For a moment, he wondered if she was dead, but he saw the suit moving up and down ever so slightly. She was alive, but barely. He had to recharge her energy somehow. Looking around, his eyes came to rest on one of the few transparent crates left and the floating creature within. The X parasite floated around, apparently unconcerned with the goings-on around it.

At first he was frightened, but what he read in Samus's reports came back to him: she had been able to recharge herself by absorbing these things. If he could get it to her without himself becoming infected, she could use it to recharge.

With great difficulty, he was able to push the crate over towards the inert body. Then he retreated to cover behind several equipment crates, took careful aim with his blaster, and shot a hole in the containment. It only took a moment before the X was roaming around outside the crate. It hovered over Samus for a moment, then began to wander towards Dash. He tensed, afraid he had made a critical error, when the creature immediately turned around and rushed at the female bounty hunter. Splashing over her body, it was immediately soaked in by her suit.

For a moment, nothing happened. Dash approached cautiously, in case his plan hadn't worked out somehow and the X was just waiting. He leapt back when Samus's hand twitched, then relaxed as the bounty hunter slowly rose to her knees.

"Ugh," she said, "I feel like hell."

"You should," he said.

"What happened?"

He offered a hand and she took it, using it to steady herself as she rose. "Later," he said, pointing to the bomb that was beeping ever onward towards detonation. "We have about ten minutes to get out of here."

"Ha," she said sardonically. "I've had less time before."

* * *

From the co-pilot's seat in Dash's ship, Samus watched the tower explode. First the upper half went, the result of his gambit with Epsillius. As the cloud of white-hot neutrons settled, the rest of the base crumbled under the force of secondary explosions, various stores of energy and weapons cooking off from the heat of detonation. Soon there was nothing left but soot and ruin on a perfectly white background.

"So," Dash said, nosing the craft up through the atmosphere, "what now?"

"I don't know," she said. And it was the truth: she didn't know. For the first time, she had no direction, no mission, and no support. There was no fallback area: the Federation wouldn't take her, especially now after all she had done with the Pirates coupled with her earlier mutiny on BSL. In addition, there was rarely ever any solidarity between bounty hunters—as to why Dash was helping her she was uncertain—and there was nowhere to go.

_Well_, she thought, taking off her helmet and fingering the base of her skull, _there is one place that I need to go. _"Think you could drop me off?"

Dash gave her a look. "Where?"

"On L33," she said. "I need to see a doctor there to try and get this chip out."

He grumbled, but plotted the course. "Do you think Epsillius can still control you?"

She shrugged. "I'm probably out of range, but I want to make sure it's gone for the next time we meet."

For a moment, the man looked genuinely surprised. "The next time?"

Samus nodded. "Yeah, and that reminds me." There was one thing left she needed to take care of. Putting her helmet back on, she switched to her mission communication channel, almost relieved to see it was still active. "Federation control, this is Samus Aran.

"Mission failed."

END

* * *

**Author's Note:** Well, here it is. Finally. After more than five years, the story is complete. I know, I'm sorry it took so long. When I started working on Renegade, I thought I would have the energy I needed to carry the story to the end, give it all the time and attention it needed to be great. We can see now how well that turned out.

The first thing you'll probably note is that this isn't much of an ending, and that if it took me this long to finish it I may as well have come up with a _real _ending. I tried just that, but unfortunately the way I set up the story didn't allow for anything other than this, and I had always planned to keep going with the story: there were going to be two more, making a trilogy (real original _durrr_). The second part would deal with the Federation and the Pirates in an all-out war, with Samus trying to get to Epsillius for revenge, and the third would see the tattered remnants of the galaxy trying to band together to fight against a looming X doomsday scenario.

So why couldn't I continue? As I said before, I lost the energy, and my interest in the subject matter just petered out. I love Metroid, I always have, and I still pop on to read other fics in the area. But the unfortunate fact is that trying to split my attention between this, the Negative Halo series, and my then-school duties was too hard and something had to give. I will be forever apologetic that it was this story that suffered, even when I was only two chapters away from finishing, but that's how it rolled. If I could, I would send these chapters back in time to help my past self, and then maybe return to it later.

I guess the final question is whether or not I'll come back to this story, and the genuine answer is that—much like Samus—I don't know. Honestly, I probably won't, so don't hold your breath.

For those of you who finally got this much-anticipated update in your e-mail, I apologize and hope that you will eventually forgive me. For those of you who just saw this float to the surface on the Metroid page, I hope you enjoyed the story.

See you next mission.

~Jimmy-San


End file.
